929.2
L351-t
1279768
COLLECTION
LATOURETTE ANNALS
IN AMERICA
BY
Lyman E. Latourette, LL.B., M.A.,
☆
Published 1954
CONTENTS
. _ . 1279768 . ,
Jean and Marie (Mercereau) LaTourette, being Huguenots,
fled from France about the time of revocation in 1685
of the Edict of Nantes. _ I
Writer's historical data gathered from time to time after
colleqe graduation. _ _ _ _ _ 2
Chapter I — LaTourette Name and Origin _ 3
Different spelling of name _ _ _ 3
Origin of name, ancient, and used early in Rome _ - _ 3
Meaning of "LaTourette" _ _ _ 4
V \
Chapter II — Flight From France _ 5
Martha Lamb's History of New York City shows this _ 5
First record in America is Susanna L. who marrie d John
Ten nissee in 1681. _ 6
Jean and Marie came by ship which landed in stress of storm .... 6
WA Marie scalped by Indians at Schenectady massacre in 1690 _ 7
- Marriage in 1693 was to confirm rights as husband and wife
under English law. _ 7
Charles Weiss' History of the French Protestant Refugees
confirms their flight from France. _ 7 & 8
Rev. James A. M. LaTourette, first pastor of Dutch
Reformed Church, Staten Island, 1850. _ _ _ 8
Birth Places of Jean and Marie _ _ _ _ _ _ 8 & 9
King Louis XIV's persecution of Huguenots _ _ _ _ 9 ■
La Rochelle was rallying place for Huguenots . . . . 9 & 10
Marenne, near La Rochelle, almost entirely Protestant; but
their temple was destroyed by order of the king _ _ _ _ 10
Baird's History of the Huguenot Emigration to America
shows the persecution and emigration to America . 7, 9, I 0 & II
Jean and Marie, upon reaching New York City in 1698 were
among friends. . . . . 12
Chapter III — Conditions in France Which Caused Flight . 13-15
Baird's History and New International Enc. show unbear¬
able hounding and treatment .
13 & 14
New York and other Colonies were greatly advanced by
the refugees. _ 14
Chapter IV — Condition of the Colonies in America _ I 6 & I 7
Indian ravages and lack of stable government _ _ _ 16
Lack of printing and lack of transportation _ 17
Chapter V — First Generation of LaTourettes in America _ 18-25
Date and place of birth of Jean and Marie _ _ _ 18
No country, no citizenship, no home and no legal marriage __ 18 & 19
Marriage in New York Colony under English law _ 19
Children born and baptized in New York City _ 19
Naturalization of Jean _ 20
Removal to Staten Island _ 1 _ 20
Jean was one of three trustees of the church at Fresh Kills, He
purchased 75 acres for himself on which he erected a stone
house; he became a Church Warden, Justice of the Court
of Common Pleas and later of the Court of Special Session. .... 2 I
The stone house remained for nearly two centuries. It was
described in detail in 1892. _ 22 & 23
Jean and Marie had eight children who are listed with date
of births. _ 24
Chapter VI — John, oldest son of Jean and Marie, inherited the
home place under English law and lived there until his
mother's death in 1733, when he and his wife, Marie (a
daughter of Joshue Mercereau) moved to Mariner's
Harbor. Their children are listed with some dates of birth. _ 26
Chapter VII — Peter (next son of Jean and Marie married
Marianne (Mercereau); lived on a farm. Their children
and dates of baptism are given. _ 27
Chapter VIII — David and Catherine (Poillon) LaTourette _ 28
Their marriage, activities and children _ _ _ 28
Chapter IX — Henry LaTourette of Fresh Kills and Susan Parlier .. 29 - 37
Born 1708, died 1794; next to youngest son of the refugees;
prominent as a weaver, County Coroner, Church Warden, etc. 29
Active in business; acquired land on S. I. and N. J. _ _ 30
His will divides his property to members of his family; he
IV
and his wife remain on S. I. though occupied by the British
and Hessians; his sons all in N. J. _ 31
His sons and daughters and dates of birth are given _ 3 I & 32
Chapter X — Susannah L. and Peter Cole _ 33 - 35
Susannah was the first child of Henry of Fresh Kills, born in
1743, married Peter Cole in 1764. _ 31
J. F. Keve has published a small book, "History of the Keve
Family," and includes the family of Peter and Susannah. _ 33
LaTourette and Mercereau Coats of Arms _ 33
A son, John LaTourette Cole, married Theodocia Fullwood,
and their children are given. _ 34
Chapter XI — Henry LaTourette _ 36 _ 37
Son of Henry of Fresh Kills, settled in a part of N. J. which
was remote at the time (before and during the
Revolutionary War) _ 36
No descendant appears except a daughter _ 37
Chapter XII — John LaTourette and Elizabeth Bond _ 38 - 42
They lived at Bond Brook, N. J. Family of ten children as ...... 38 & 39
given, with dates of birth, and many of descendants _ 40 & 41
LaTourettes of Broome County, N. Y. _ 42
Chapter XIII — Peter LaTourette of Vestal, N. Y., (Last Son of
Henry of Fresh Kills) and Elizabeth Andre Vette. _ 43 - 47
Sarah Atwater Goodyear, a granddaughter of this Peter, gave
the details of his descendants and information by Rev. James
A. M. LaTourette who gave the ancestry at Rome and at
Genoa before coming to France. _ _ _ 43
The family of Peter of Vestal is given in detail _ _ 44
The family of his daughter Elizabeth and of his son Peter are
also given in detail. _ _ _ _ _ _ 45
News clippings give further data and Miss Sarah Atwater
Goodyear mentions the daughters of Rev. James A. M. L.
who prepared a family chart . . . . . 46
The family line of John, son of Peter, and Ann (Quigley) L . 47
Chapter XIV — LaTourette Line as Given by Rev. James
A. M. L., and Other Data . 47 . 66
v
Family chart and comments . . . . . . . 48-49
His direct descent is given, also that of Richard Crocheron L.
and of his sister. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 50
Records of St. Andrews Church _ 51
Records of Huguenot Society, N. Y. _ 51
N. Y. Geneological and Biological Records _ 52
Bayles' History of Richmond Co. _ 53 & 54
Early Churches in Richmond Co. and the one that Jean
helped to build. _ 53
Further data by Bayles _ 54
Will of David LaTourette, 1799 _ 54
Tombstones of St. Andrews Church _ 54
Tombstones of Woodrow Church yard _ 54 & 55
Clute's History of Richmond Co. _ 55
N. Y. Historical Manuscripts _ 55
Abraham L. of Tottenville, S. I., and Family Bible _ 55 & 56
Other data by Abraham and his line of descent _ 57
Paul L. of Summerville, S. I. _ 57
His brother John and Old Family Bible _ 58
Lineage disclosed _ 59 & 60
Grave Stones of Dutch Reformed Church _ 60 & 6 1
Personal interview with Richard C. L. and sister _ 61
Data furnished by Mrs. Cath. Young _ _ _ 62 - 64
Books and comments _ 64 - 66
Chapter XV — David L. of Lodi and Hannah Hegeman _ 67-71
Oldest son of John L. and Elizabeth Bond of Bound Brook, N. J.,
a comparatively new district; lack of modern transportation
and printing, but great leaders. _ 67
David and younger brother go to the Lodi community at an
early age. They farm and weave. David seeks and gains a
wife, Hannah Hegeman. _ 68
Their Family Bible gives in detail their children, dates of
birth, etc. _ _ _ _ _ _ 69
Hannah's ancestry has been prepared by Laurence LaTourette
Driggs and published in the S. I. Historical Society Record . 70
VI
David was industrious and a good provider; loved by his
family which was large (13). _ _ _ _ _ 69 & 79
All children went through the local school, none went further
except Lyman D. CM who worked his way through Waterloo
Academy. Rural conditions at Lodi made life interesting
for children. _ _ _ _ _ 70 & 7 I
Chapter XVI — Elizabeth (Betsy) L. and Charles Kelly _ 72 - 74
Jan. II, I 82 I , a double wedding occurred, the above; Mary
Ann and John Brown. The children of Betsy and Charles were
born at or near Lodi. They moved to Michigan, near Fenton;
Charles farmed and was Justice of Peace; about 1876 they
moved to Oregon City. _ 72
Five children as listed _ 73
Everington D., born 1833, married 1852; by ox team to
Oregon City, became locally prominent. _ 73
They have descendants as listed. _ 73 & 74
Other descendants of Betsy and Charles are listed. _ 74
Chapter XVII — John, First Son of David of Lodi _ 75 . 78
John, born 1808, married 1830, ran a barge on Erie Canal for
some years, then farmed in Michigan until 1849 when he died
attempting to reach the California gold mines. His children
were as stated. _ 75
His daughter Josephine came to Oregon in 1853, married
Joseph Buchtel in I 855 who became prominent in many ways
in and about Portland. They had children and descendants as
stated. Their two sons also became prominent in Portland, as
shown. Josephine kept a Family Bible from which the records
were taken. _ _ _ 76 _ 73
Chapter XVIII — Mary Ann and John Brown _ 79-81
Married at the double wedding above mentioned, farmed
in Michigan, had descendants as listed _ _ _ _ 80
Their daughter, Mary A., who married M. R. Hazlett, became
prominent politically in Michigan, but retired early in order
to care for her mother. With limited means she had diffi¬
culties. She had a stout heart and went bravely on. ... 81
VII
They came to Oregon in I 853 and located near Salem. Their
descendants are as listed _ _ _ _ ;t; _ 82 & 83
Chapter XX — Orange LaTourette _ _ _ r _ _ _ 84
He married, had descendants as listed, took part in Black
Hawk War, Company K, and farmed. _ 84 & 85
Chapter XXI — Hannah Elmina and Emeline _ 86 & 87
The former married Ira Dennis. They emigrated to Michigan
and then to Oregon. Their descendants are as listed. Most
of th em are in and about Portland. _ 86 - 88
Emeline, sister of Hannah Elmina, married in Lodi a man
named Bergen, who was a poor provider. Emeline provided.
They had a daughter, Addie, who married, but there was no
issue. _ 88 & 89
Chapter XXII — Mehama and James X. Smith _ 90 & 9 I
They came to Oregon in I 858 and settled at or near Salem,
in hotel business. Their descendants are as stated. _ 90 & 9 I
Chapter XXIII — David and Emma (Booth) LaTourette _ 92 & 93
David engaged in banking and farming at and near Fentonville,
Mich. He had other large enterprises which he conducted
almost single handed until his health failed in 1871. He
then retired and his oldest son took over. _ _ 92
His family was as listed _ 93
Chapter XXIV — Howard Latourette and Descendants _ 94 - 98
He was married and had children as listed _ 94
The descendants were as shown in detail _ 94 - 98
Chapter XXV — Mary Emma Latourette _ _ _ _ 99
She married LeRoy Driggs and had descendants as indicated.
Her son, Laurence Latourette Driggs, did much work on
LaTourette and Hegeman genealogy. _ 99
Chapter XXVI — Charles D. Latourette and His Sister, Lizzie .. 100-104
Charles D. took to law; LL.B. at Ann Arbor, 1878; located
at Oregon City 1879; partner DeWitt Clinton L. 1883; title
C. D. & D. C. L _ _ _ _ - . - . 100
Married Sedonia Shaw, children as listed . . . . 101
VIII
Descendants as stated _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 102 & 103
Lizzie Eliza married William Warden; descend¬
ants as stated _ _ _ _ _ _ I 03 & 104
Ida Belle, sister of Charles and Lizzie, married Frank Donaldson;
Children as stated. _ _ _ 104
Chapter XXVII — Lyman D. C. and Family . . . . . . I 05 - I I I
Getting an Education _ _ _ | 05
Teaching; Crossing plains by ox team _ _ _ I 06 & 107
Gold mines in California _ _ _ _ _ _ 108
Store at Oregon City and farming _ _ _ | 09
Marriages and children _ 109- III
Hannah Sarepta, youngest sister of Lyman D. C. _ I I I & I 12
Marriage and descendants _ _ _ | |2
Chapter XXVIII — Descendants of Lyman D. C _ _ I 13 - 123
Willard H., first son, education, activities and descendants. I 13 - 115
DeWitt Clinton, education, activities and descendants. _ 115- 118
Nina Ann, education and marriage; no descendant. _ I 19
Lyman Ezra, education, activities, marriage and
descendants. _ II 9 & 120
Nellie Edith, education and activities; no marriage. _ 120
Edward Everett, education, activities, marriage and
descendants. _ 120- 123
Lucy Alfreda, education, activities and marriage; no children .... 123
Chapter XXVIII — John and Sarah (Schenk) LaTourette and
Descendants _ _ _ _ 124- 128
Their children and descendants . . . . . . | 24 - 127
Some of their activities, especially spinning and weaving .... 127 - 131
Military service . . . . . . . 128
Additional family data . . . . 128- 130
Concluding Statement . | 32
IX
Home
Built by Jean and Marie (Mercereau) LaTourette
at Fresh Kills, Staten Island, in 1699.
Home of Richard Crocheron and Sister, Staten Island, N. Y.
\
X
*
Lyman D. C. Latourette
of Oregon City
Katherine Young and Husband
of Crawfordsville, Ind.
Home Built by John LaTourette of Covington, Ind.
XI
Lyman D. C. La+ourette's Farm House and Living Room
near Oregon City, Oregon
XII
LATOURETTE ANNALS IN AMERICA
Lyman E. Latourette, LL.B., M.A., LL.D.
PREFACE
Th is compilation is intended as a basis for more complete stud¬
ies anent the annals and descendents of Jean LaTourette and Marie
(Mercereau) LaTourette, who fled from France about the time the
Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. It will be recalled
that the Edict was made at Nantes, France, on April 13, 1598, as a
means of quieting the conflict between Protestants (F-luguenots) and
Catholics during the period of the Religious Reformation.. The Edict
purported to give the Huguenots a measure of liberty in belief and
worship and protection against persecution. The revocation not only
terminated this liberty and protection but instituted new measures for
compelling the "heretics" to abjure their faith and become good Cath¬
olics. It will also be recalled that the strife resulted from a form of
intolerance, which, at this time, is difficult to understand, but which
resulted in wars, and rumors of wars, murder, "dragonage" and cruel¬
ties almost beyond comprehension.
The writer (now 81 years of age) was inspired, when a youth, to
learn more about the LaTourette ancestry in America by hearing his
father tell about his brothers and sisters, some of his aunts and uncles
«n Indiana, New York and New Jersey, and how their ancestors, being
Huguenots, had fled to America from France, their property being
confiscated, and how provision was subsequently made for restoration
of its value to the heirs who could prove their descent and heirship.
Youth and inexperience did not prevent a resolution to do something
about it when able. As time went on and something was done, it was
found that the number of heirs was so great that the amount coming
to each would be about nothing, whether the confiscated property
was little or much. The question, however, was found to be a challenge
— enticing and educational. The data collected and presented here
may be helpful and beneficial to the many who now and in the future
will carry the blood and genes of Jean LaTourette and Marie (Mercer¬
eau) LaTourette.
The writer's work of gathering the facts has been carried on from
time to time after finishing college (McMinnville, now Linfield) in Ore¬
gon, while pursuing courses at Columbia University, New York, leading
to the degrees of LL.B. and A.M. in 1899, and while practicing law in
Oregon. This volume is the result of many personal interviews, much
corrsepondence, many visits to libraries, court houses, and the taking
of many notes, and some full copies, from old Bibles, wills, deeds, etc.
The writer wishes here to express his appreciation of the kindly
acts of all who have been consulted.
/
2
Chapter I
LATOURETTE NAME AND ORIGIN
The writer's father, Lyman D. C. Latourette, who came to Oregon
in 1848 by ox team and prarie schooner before Oregon was a state
or even established as a Territory of the United States, rendered the
name as given in this paragraph. Others in Oregon bearing the name
have, for the most part, used the same form.
Elsewhere in the United States, the form is usually LaTourette, al¬
though two "r's" are often used, thus: LaTourrette. This latter form seems
to be the older form. It is the form used by the ancestor who fled from
France when he signed his petition to the Governor "of the Province
of New York and all the territories and tracts of land depending there¬
on in America" in 1695 for denizenship. This was when New York was
as much an Indian country as the Oregon country was in 1848 when it
embraced all of what is now Oregon, Washington, Idaho and a part
of Montana and Wyoming, exteding from California to what is now
Canada. In church records, census records, and many other places, the
name is so poorly rendered that it is at times almost doubtful.
Th e origin of the name is uncertain, but very old. The Rev. James
A. M. LaTourette, who, in the latter half of the last century, took an in¬
terest in family history and traveled a great deal, wrote, in correspond¬
ence with Sarah Atwater Goodyear (date of the letter being Sep¬
tember 25, 1897) King Ferry, P.O., Cayuga County, New York, that he
had been at the early home of the family in Genoa, Italy, and had walked
the Via Della Torretta, and the Piazza Della Torretta of Rome, named "for
the family hundreds of years ago before being driven into France." In
another letter to Mrs. Goodyear dated March 12, 1897, the Rev. La-
Tourette wrote from Fort Worth, New Mexico: "We are really old Ital¬
ians. When in Italy I received marked attention on account of it. Our
ancestors were about 700 years in France. Jean LaTourette's name is
recorded as one of the two anciens (elders) of the French Church in
Pine Street, New York, in 1690. Pierre, son of Jean, was baptised there."
By referring to a map of Rome, the Via and Piazza above mention¬
ed will be found about midway between the Pantheon erected by Had¬
rian 123 A.D. (replacing the one erected by Agrippa 27 B.C.) in memory
of Caesar Augustus, and the Mausoleum of Augustus. A Tumulus Tor¬
retta is also shown about two miles southwest of ancient Veii, and perhaps
3
fifteen miles from Rome at the forks of Via Claudia and Via Cassia. (See
Murray's Handbook of Rome and Its Environs, and Sir Williams Gale's
Topography of Rome). By referring to Saint Martins Diet. Geographic
Universelle, heading "Tourrette," and to Grand Dictionaire Du XIX Siecle,
Francais, Paris, I 875, Tome I 5, subject "Tourette," one may see that the
name is not uncommon in the southern portion of France.
The meaning of the word LaTourette is the little tower, according
to tradition, "la" being the feminine article for "the" in French, "tour"
being a feminine noun for "tower," and "ette" being the diminutive for
"little." French and Italian dictionaries support this view, for the word
"tour" in French becomes "tor" in Italian, and the same word root even
goes back to the Greek. Webster's International Dictionary gives the
origin of the word "tower" as Old French, tour, tor or tur; French, tour,
Latin, turris, akin to Greek torris. Likewise, our word "turret" is given
as Old English touret, Old French touretta, Latin turris.
4
Chapter II
FLIGHT FROM FRANCE AND SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA
A brief narrative of the flight from France is given at p. 383, Vol¬
ume II, note I, of Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's "History of the City of New
York," in connection with a reference to John Broome, who was one of
the leading builders of New York City in the 17th century, as follows:
"John Broome, for six successive years lieutenant-governor of the State,
was born and educated in New York, studying law in the office of Gov¬
ernor William Livingston, although diverted from the legal profession
into the important business of his brother, Samuel Broome, who married
Miss Nugent. . . . His father was an Englishman, his mother a French
woman, Marie de la Tourette. The parents of t! .is lady were the young
Count and Countess de la Tourette of an ancient Huguenot family, and
were residents of the old chateau in La Vendee when the the edict of
Nantes was revoked. The count was informed that his name was on the
list of proscribed, and that an unsuccessful attempt to escape would cost
him his life. He proceeded to give a large entertainment, to which all of
the neighboring gentry were invited, and when the gayety was at its
height, stole with the countess from the banqueting hall and escaped on
foot to the seashore, where a vessel bound for Charleston lay at anchor
taking with them only their jewels and the Huguenot Bible. The ship was
cast away on Staten Island, where the countess gave birth to the daugh¬
ter who subsequently became the mother of John Broome. The reader
has observed the name of this gentleman on the Revolutionary Commit¬
tee and in the New York Congress during the War. He married Rebecca
Lloyd of Lloyd's Neck. He was an alderman of the city at one time, City
Treasurer, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and also President of
the New York Insurance Company . "
Pages 88, 326, 468 and 575 show some of the other activities in
which John Broome was engaged. It seems also that Broome Street in
New York City was named for either him or his brother.
The probate records of Richmond County (Staten Island) show
(in Vol. A of Wills, p. 106) the will of Henry LaTourette of Fresh Kills,
where it is provided that the executors shall deposit in "the hands of
my cousin John Broome of the City of New York, merchant," 300 pounds,
to be put out at five per cent interest, the interest to be paid to Henry,
son of the testator.
This Henry LaTourette (the father) was, as will be shown later, a
son (next to the youngest) of Jean LaTourette and Marie (Mercereau)
5
LaTourette. He was born in 1708 and died in 1794. He was prominent
as a business man and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and
active in the Huguenot French Church at Fresh Kills, Staten Island.
The above quotation from Martha Lamb's "History of the City
of New York" is disappointing in that it fails to give any dates and gives
but few names of places and persons. The account of the escape from
France, however, is not unlike that by which other Huguenot Protestants
escaped from France both before and after the revocation in 1685 of
the Edict of Nantes. In Charles W. Baird's "History of the Huguenot
Emigration to America" at p. 325, this appears:
Andre Sigourney, and Charlotte Pairan, his wife, were living in
comfortable circumstances in LaRochelle, when the quartering of troops
commenced. Determined not to renounce their faith, they had their plans
for escape, and succeeded in quietly transferring a portion of their ef¬
fects to a vessel in the harbor. The day fixed upon for the attempt to
leave was a holiday. The family provided a bountiful feast for the soldiers
billeted upon them, and while these were in the height of their carousal,
they departed unobserved. The weather was stormy and they had a
rough and perilous passage across the channel, but reached England
safely."
In The next chapter, more will be written about conditions in France
at the time the Huguenots were leaving by every possible means and
in great numbers.
The first record that the writer has found of a LaTourette in Amer¬
ica appears in Bergen's "Early Settlers of King's County, N. Y.," at p. 354,
where it is stated that on October 14, 1681, John Tennissee married
Susanna LaTourette, and they afterwards had several children whose
names and dates of birth are given. She probably left France the same
year or shortly before. King County is on the southwest corner of Long
Island, across The Narrows from Staten Island.
The next item of interest is in J. B. Wilkinson's "Annals of Bingham¬
ton" (N.Y., 1840), at p. 107, where it is stated that John Mercereau
lived in France, and had children, Joshua, Paul, Daniel, Mary and Mar-^
tha. The children went to England in 1685. All, except Paul, sailed for
Philadelphia. In consequence of distress of weather, the ship was obliged
to put in at New York. Paul remained in England; Daniel settled in Staten
Island; Mary married John Latourette; and Martha married Mr. Shadine.
Their mother died in this country and was buried in the French Church
yard on Staten Island.
6
"Mary, who married Mr. Latourette was in the Great Massacre of
Schenectady in 1690. She was scalped and left for dead; all her children
butchered by the Indians; her husband probably dead before or killed
in the massacre. . . . She spent the rest of her days with her brother,
Joshua, who, it is believed, lived on Staten Island also, and who was
the maternal grandfather of Esquire LaGrange, and the grandfather
of Judge Mercereau, and great grandfather of Peter LaTourette, who
settled in Vestal where his son Henry, and David Ross now own and
live." (Wilkinson Annals).
i
The above should be compared with a foot note at p. 20, Vol. 2,
"Baird's History of the Huguenot Emigration to America," which reads:
"This family (Mercereau) was in New York as early as the year 1689.
Joshua Mercereau, de Moise en Saintonge, married Marie Chadaine,
July 16, 1693, Daniel of Moise married Susanne Marie Doucinet, August
6, 1693. Marie de Moise married John LaTourette, July 16, 1693. Eliz¬
abeth, another sister apparently, was already the wife of Pierre Masse',
whose son Daniel was presented for baptism May 5, 1689. (Records of
French Church in New York)."
Apparently the marriage here mentioned of John LaTourette and
Marie Mercereau was to confirm ("solemnize") their marriage in France
at a time when Huguenots were deprived of civil rights. (See ch. V).
Moreover, their certificates had probably been lost and the record
destroyed. It will be noted that King Louis XIV, after revoking the Edict
of Nantes, caused the Huguenot churches (temples) -to be destroyed.
It is apparent that Mr. Wilkinson was in error in assuming that
Marie's husband was dead or killed in the massacre, and that she spent
the rest of her days with her brother. There is an abundance of records
showing that she and Jean lived together in New York City until about
1698 when they moved to Staten Island, took part in erecting a French
Church at Fresh Kills, purchased property and established their home
near the Church; and they both lived there the remainder of their
lives.
Martha Lamb's account of the flight from France is similar to the
account given in the "History of the French Protestant Refugees" by
M. Charles Weiss, with an American appendix by a descendant of the
Huguenots, except that here the name is given as "Henri" in place of
"the Count." The Weiss history reads as follows:
"The early history of some of these Richmond County (Staten Island)
7
Huguenots is almost the reality of romance. Henri de La Tourette fled
from La Vendee after the revocation; and, to avoid suspicion, gave a
large entertainment; and, whilst the guests were assembled, he suddenly
left with his wife for the sea coast. This was not far off, and which he
reached, when he escaped on board a vessel bound for Charleston. The
ship was either cast away upon the shores of Staten Island, or made har¬
bor in distress. A long list of respectable and pious descendants trace
their origin to this source; and one of them is now a pastor of a Dutch
Reformed Church not far from Richmond. The chateau of La Tourette is
still standing in France, and a branch of the family exists there. Some
years ago one of the name visited this country for the purpose of obtain¬
ing the old Family Bible, but he was unsuccessful, as the venerable and
holy volume had been given long before to a refugee family in Germ¬
any."
The above reference fo one of fhe LaToureffes being "pasfor
of a Dufch Reformed Church not far from Richmond’1 is evidently to
the Rev. James A. M. LaTourette mentioned in Chapter I. This Church
was organized in 1850 by members of the Reformed Church at Rich¬
mond who lived at a distance. They built a church at Bloomingview, and
the Rev. James A. M. was the first pastor.
The reference to La Vendee by both Weiss and Lamb is confusing
to one who has in mind events that happened about 1685, for the Ven¬
dee was not created until the French Revolution (1790) when the country
was divided into 83 departmens. (See New International Enc., "French
Revolution, Vol VIII, p. 256). Vendee covers most, or all, of what was
previously Poitou, but not Aunis and Saint Onge. It borders the Bay
of Biscay from the Gironde River to Loire River. Baird's History, supra,
has a map at the end of Vol. II giving the provinces as they previously
existed. The accounts of the flight give one the impression that the
LaTourette chateau was in Vendee. Yet no more exact location is given,
and the writer has discovered none in Vendee, though one is mention¬
ed in Annuaire des Chateau, 1894 - 1895, as follows:
"Tourette de Nonneville (Mine de), chateau de Boisderie, post Son-
zay, telegraph Fondettes, Ry. Station Saint Gyre (Indre et loire)."
Another is given as "near St. Victor, Ry. Station Tournou (22 kil.),
au Annonay (18 kil.) Ardeche."
The former is near Tours, and about midway between Vendee and
Orleans.
The marriage record mentioned in the French Church, New York,
8
I
makes no mention of Henri LaTourette, but gives the name of Jean
LaTourette d Osse en Bearn, 1 and Mary Mercereau "de Moise en St.
Onge. Osse is in the southeast corner of the province of Bearn, which
is now Basses Pyrenees. Moise is in the province of Saintonge, which is
now included in Oironde. Inasmuch as they were no doubt first married
in France, it seems quite possible that they were residing in what is now
Vendee at the time the Edict of Nantes was revoked and took ship at
or near Marennes, or La Rochelle, with other members of the Mercer¬
eau family. And it would be likely that the ship would go to England
before crossing the Atlantic. Indeed, it is possible that they left France
before the edict was revoked, for King Louis XIV, after having firmly
established himself as "king by divine right," gave little heed to the
promises contained in the edict of Nantes, and, toward 1685 persecut¬
ed the Huguenots almost as bitterly before his revocation of the edict
as afterwards. He was in need of more galley slaves for his navy, and
the prevailing church craved complete religious control. Louis XIV ap¬
parently felt that a king could do no wrong and might properly do
whatever he wished.
Baird, in his history, supra, vol. I, p. 258, thus explains the king's
attitude:
The Revocation was but the finishing stroke of a policy that had
been pursued with marvelous steadiness for a quarter of a century. It
ordered the immediate demolition of all remaining temples' or places
of worship of the Reformed Religion. It prohibited the religionists from
assemblying in any house or locality whatsoever, for the exercises of that
religion. Ministers of the said Religion were commanded, if unwilling to
embrace the Catholic faith, to leave the kingdom within fifteen days
after the publication of the present Edict, and meanwhile to perform
no function of their office, under penalty of the galleys. Private schools
for the instruction of children of the said Religion were prohibited, 'as
well as all things in general that might denote any concession whatsoever
in favor of the said Religion.' Parents were commanded, under heavy
penalties, to send their infant children to the parish churches for baptism.
All persons professing said Religion were 'most expressly' forbidden to
leave the kingdom, under penalty of the galleys for the men, and of im¬
prisonment and the confiscation of goods for the women."
Baird, at pp. 262 et seq., shows that the Huguenots were especial¬
ly numerous in the area afterwards embracd in Vendee. La Rochelle
was the rallying point, a center of intelligence (p. 267), "its college,
founded in 1565, and endowed by Jean d'Albret and the princes, drew
9
to itself some of the most eminent scholars of the age. Its printing press¬
es were noted for their incessant activity, and for the rare excellence
of many of their products. La Rochelle was chosen for the holding of
several of the national assemblies of the Reformed churches. A free
and vigorous intellectual life pervaded the place, quickened by the
very anxieties and apprehensions that equally prevailed."
Referring to Marennes, 25 miles south of La Rochelle, Mr. Baird
writes (Vol. II, p. 24):
"This region, at the time of the Revocation, was almost entirely Pro¬
testant. The temple of Marenne was still standing in 1684, when all the
Huguenot places of worship in the neighbourhood had been destroyed.
Thirteen or fourteen thousand persons now gathered, from far and near
to attend its services. The order for its demolition was at length given.
To aggrevate the distress which this order would produce, it was with¬
held from the knowledge of the ministers until Saturday night. The next
morning about ten thousand persons were assembled around the Church.
Many of them had come from the isles of Re and Oleron. Twenty-three
children had been brought for baptism. Upon learning the doom of their
sanctuary, the multitude dispersed slowly, weeping, many of them unable
to restrain themselves from sobs and lamentations. Relatives and friends
embraced one another in silent grief. Many, with hands clasped and
eyes turned toward Heaven, seemed unable to tear themselves away
from the spot, where, in spite of the inclemency of the weather, they had
come to seek comfort in God's word and in prayer. Several of the little
children died on the homeward journey."
It is quite possible that Jean and Marie LaTourette were present.
At pp. 146 and 147 of the same volume, Mr. Baird writes of Pierre
Peyret who married Marguerite de Grenier la Tour, des Verriers de
Garabre, and who came from the small county of Foix, in the extreme
south of France and became "one of the most devoted Huguenot pas¬
tors in America." He died in 1705. His widow remained in France at
Bearn, which was the province where Jean LaTourette was born. A foot
note is added as follows:
"Another refugee from Bearn joined the French colony in the City
of New York. This was Jean LaTourette, natif d'Osse en Bearn, who mar¬
ried Marie Mercereau' July 16, 1693, and had three children, Marie,
Jean, and David, baptized in the French Church. Pierre LaTourette, per¬
haps a brother of Jean, married Marie Mercereau. David married Cath¬
erine, daughter of Jacques Poillon. David and Pierre were members of •
the French congregation on Staten Island in 1735."
It is to be observed that this marriage was confirmatory; that the
10
above minister officiated, and that the attendants were Pierre Masse,
D. Mercereau, Joshue Mercereau, Elie Boudinet and J. Barberie. (pp.
29 and 30, Collections of the Huguenot Soc., vol. I)
As showing further the difficulties in the way of escaping from
France we quote as follows from p. 99, vol. II, of Baird's History:
"Under the panic caused by the Dragonades, in these (Picardy and
Maine) and other provinces of France, some of the unfortunate protest-
ants fled for greater security to Paris. Two motives prompted this singu¬
lar course. First, it was thought incredible that the quartering of troops
upon families wouid be practised in the capital; and many were influenc¬
ed by the hope that they might there escape the barbarities suffered in
remote parts of the country. Besides many persons contemplating mar¬
riage, found it necessary to come to Paris to have that rite administered,
according to the usage of the Reformed Churches; for, by this time,
throughout one half of the kingdom, all exercises of the Protestant relig¬
ion had been forbidden. An old Huguenot custom required the presence
of numerous relatives and friends, on such occasions; and not infrequently
large companies were to be seen, attending the contracting parties on
their errand to the capital for this purpose. Thus it came to pass that on
the eve of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the city was crowded
with strangers, and the taverns and lodging houses were filled to over¬
flowing. Determined to cut off all hope of escape the government now
ordered every Protestant to return to the provence and the town to
which he belonged . In the confusion which followed, not a few of
the Huguenots found opportunity to leave the city and the kingdom.
Whole families fled together, wandering from town to town, until at
length the good providence of God opened to them a door of escape."
The same History, at p. 139 of Vol II, tells of Jean Barberie as
"one of the principal refugees to New York." Note 4 reads thus:
"Jean Barberie, naturalized in England January 5, 1688, with his two
sons, Pierre and Jean Pierre, came to New York in the spring of that
year, and from the first took a prominent place in the community. He was
an enterprising merchant, and at the same time active-in political affairs.
He was apparently the principal founder of the French Church in New
York, which dates from the year of his arrival, and of which he was Elder
and Treasurer. He married Marie Brinqueman, widow of Denis Lambert,
and niece of Gabriel Minvielle."
The above is mentioned because he was one of the attendants,
as appears above, at the confirmatory marriage in New York of Jean
LaTourette and Marie Mercereau, and because of the mention of Gab¬
riel Minvielle, who is shown, at p. 140 of the above volume, to have
come from the western portion of France, arriving in New York in 1673
or earlier, elected city alderman in 1675, and mayor in 1684. Appar¬
ently he was mayor at the time Jean and Marie arrived in New York
City after escaping massacre at Schenectady February 8, 1690.
From note 2 of the above history (p. 20, Vol. II), it appears that
Pierre Masse, who was a witness in attendance at the New York mar¬
riage of Jean LaTourette and Marie, was the husband of Elizabeth Mer-
cereau.
It will be seen from the above that Jean and Marie LaTourette
were among friends in New York City, and they were in a community
where they might enjoy the "four freedoms." Although they were ap¬
parently without worldly goods on their arrival there, Huguenot thrift,
energy and perseverance sufficed within a few years to provide them
a home, living, and peaceful enjoyment of their religious faith. Before
moving to Staten Island in 1698, they had acquired real property and
citizenship and sufficient means to acquire on Staten Island a consider¬
able tract of land. He was an "ancien" (elder) in the Church, and upon
moving to Staten Island, he assisted in establishing a French Church
there, and was one of three trustees who held title to the 1/2 acre of
land acquired for the Church.
12
Chapter III
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE WHICH CAUSED HUGUENOT FLIGHT
It seems doubtful if, in the history of the world, there has been a
persecution so asinine as that of Louis XIV of France against thousands
of his best citizens. Baird's History (vol. II, p. 54) refers to a portion of
France near which Jean and Marie LaTourette lived and continues:
Most of these localities are now so insignificant as to find no place
on ordinary maps. But none of them were too obscure to be visited by
the troops of Louis XIV, under direction of the infamous Marillack, in
the course of the spring and summer of the year 1681; and it is probable
that this little district witnessed, at that period, as much of concentrated
cruelty and misery, as did any other part of France. The soldiers did not
leave one parish to go to another, so long as a single Protestant remain--
ed to be either converted or ruined. Houses were pillaged, women were
insulted and tortured, men were baaten; and when driven or dragged to
the churches, those who could be persuaded to kneel before the priest,
or place their hands upon the Gospel, were reported as converts. Multi¬
tudes of the wretched villagers might be seen flying from their homes,
towards La Rochelle, or some other place of fancied security; or gather¬
ed in groups along the coast, waiting for some means of escape by sea."
"The number of Protestants in the city of Rouen (near Havre) was
reckoned, shortly before the Revocation, at five thousand. They were
noted for their religious zeal, and for the constancy displayed by many
of them under persecution. Several prominent members of the Reformed
congregation in that city were thrown into prison; their wives and daugh¬
ters were shut up in convents, where some of them died; and the streets
of Rouen witnessed in repeated instances the execution of one of the
most inhuman and horrible of the abuses inflicted upon the dead as upon
the living heretic, in the dragging of the naked bodies of persons who
had refused with their last breath to renounce their faith, to be cast into
the public sewer."
On p. 8 I et seq., the author writes of the slow and perilous travel
by ship across the ocean — delays, sickness and deaths enroute, etc.
The stupidity of Louis XIV in carrying on this persecution was such
as to cause a prominent member of the Catholic faith to use this lan¬
guage, as quoted in Baird's History (p. 259 of Vol I):
"The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, without the slightest pre¬
text, or the least necessity, as well as the various proclamations, or rather
proscriptions, that followed, were the fruits of the horrible conspiracy
which depopulated a fourth part of the kingdom. ... A plot that present-
13
ed to the nations the spectacle of so vast a multitude of people, who had
committed no crime, proscribed, denuded, fleeing, wandering, seeking
an asylum far from their country. A plot that consigned the noble, the
wealthy, the aged, those highly esteemed, in many cases, for their piety,
their learning, their virtue, those accustomed to a life of ease, frail, del¬
icate, to hard labor in the galleys, under the driver's lash, and for no rea¬
son save that of their religion."
The plot referred to was not a plot endorsed by many of the French
people. The history above mentioned shows that the Huguenots were
often aided in their flight by those who were not Huguenots and who
risked severe punishment by the mere fact of their aid. New York and
other colonies were greatly advanced in civilization and commercial
activities by the refugees who reached their shores. The French people,
a century later, gave the colonies of America invaluable aid in winning
the War of the Revolution; they adorned our greatest harbor with a
wonderful Statue of Liberty enlightening the world; their refugees en¬
riched American knowledge. A good example is John Jay, who was the
first Chief Justice of the United States after the Revolution, and who
rendered invaluable service in the framing of our Constitution and
democratic form of government. His ancestors were Huguenots and
from the same part of France as Jean and Marie L.
In the American Cyclopaedia, Vol. IX, p. 38, it is said of the Hu¬
guenots that at least 500,000 took refuge in other countries; that many
went to North America, and that they were noted for "severe morality,
great charity and politeness, and elegance of manners."
The persecution which was most of all feared was that of the soldiery,
called "dragonades" because they carried a banner having a dragon's
head, and their firearms were similarly decorated. In the New Inter¬
national Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI, p. 426, it is written of them:
"The outrages committed by a brutal soldiery, free from all restraint,
and, in fact, encouraged in their licentious conduct, made life with honor
impossible for the Huguenots and drove thousands of families out of
the country or into the bosom of the Church. Louis was delighted to find
that from two hundred and fifty to four hundred Protestants were being
converted daily, and, in consequence, on October 22, 1685, a few
months after the date of the first persecutions, he revoked the Edict of
Nantes (q.v.) that the good work might be fully accomplished."
Th us it was that the measure of freedom that the Huguenots had
at first won by the Edict of Nantes was entirely swept away, and they
14
were outlaws in their own country and in their own homes, all because
of their religious faith, the dumbness and cruelty of a tyrant king and
a minister devoid of conscience. The experience of France through the
period of these persecutions was the forerunner of the French Revolu¬
tion, and probably spurred the colonies of England in America to brave
the hazards of a war for independence notwithstanding the weakness
of the Colonies and the might of the British army and navy.
15
Chapter IV
HISTORICAL DATA RE CONDITIONS IN AMERICA
The shores of what are now the United States were neither
hospitable nor inviting in the latter half of the seventeenth century. This
was true of New Amsterdam (now New York) as of Plymouth Colony. Im¬
mediately prior to 1647, the New Amsterdam Colony had been nearly
destroyed by the Algonquin Indians. It is said in The New International
Encyclopedia, Vol. XIV, p. 502, that:
"The settlements around New Amsterdam were wiped out and the
town itself was threatened. In the moment of highest danger Kieft (the
Governor) was forced by popular demand to appoint a council of eight
to assist him in carrying on the war. This was the beginning of representa¬
tive government in New York. Peter Stuyvesent (1647-64) appointed a
council of nine to advise him and acted in systematic opposition to it. . . .
Defying alike the popular will and the orders of the States-General in
Holland, he ruled, arrested, confiscated, silenced public speech, and
dictated the outline for the Sunday sermon. . . . The citizens grew weary
of him and yielded in 1664 to an English fleet under Colonel Nicolls,
which had come to enforce the Duke of York's title to the region. New
Amsterdam became New York, and was ruled by the Duke's Governors
(a Legislature was refused) and by the Duke's laws. Taken by the Dutch
in 1673, it was returned to England in the following year.
Edmund Andros became Governor under the English on November
10, 1674. In 1689, Andros having been imprisoned in Massachusetts,
Jacob Leisler, supported by the New York militia and three royal coun¬
selors, seized the government, and, by virtue of a letter from the new gov¬
ernment of England directed to Governor Nicholson (who had become
Lieutenant-Governor upon the imprisonment of Andros), or, "in his
absence, to such as for the time being take care for preserving the
peace and administering the laws in the said Province of New York," as¬
sumed the title of Lieutenant-Governor. Some of those who opposed
Leisler fled to Albany, which also opposed him, but which, after the
destruction of Schenectady in February, 1690, submitted to him. In 1691,
a new governor, Henry Sloughter, was commissioned from England. He
took charge. Leisler and some of his strongest supporters were tried, con¬
victed and hanged. See above Enc., p. 517, and Vol. XII, p. Ill; also
Lamb's History of New York City, Vol. I, pp. 159 et seq.
Schenectady, at the time of the massacre, had a population of 250, of
16
whom 60 were massacred, 80 to 90 were captured, and 60 of the 66 houses
were destroyed. (See above Enc., p. 633 of Vol. XVII.)
In I 653, New Amsterdam had a population of only 800. In that year a
wall was built across Manhattan where Wall Street is now located in order
to protect the town against marauding Indians. Until 1693, there was no
printing press in the town. There was no stage between New York and Bos¬
ton or Philadelphia, until many years later. There was, of course, no railway,
steamboat, telegraph, telephone or electricity. What is now U. S. A. was
a wild country, uninhabited by civilized human beings, except for a fringe
of settlements along the Atlantic border. Travel was mostly by sail or row
boat, foot or horseback. Such was the country to which the Huguenots
came.
17
Chapter V
FIRST GENERATION IN AMERICA OF JEAN AND
MARIE (MERCEREAU) LATOURETTE
The dates and places of birth of these parents is unknown to the
writer, except as subsequently stated. Jean is assumed to have been born
in 1651, because the Staten Island census of I 706 gives his age as 56 years.
The place of his birth was the southwestern part of France in what is now
the Department Bassee Pyrenees, town or city of Osse. This department
was, prior to the French Revolution, known as the Province of Bearn, and it
is so designated in the marriage record of the French Church, New York
City.
The writer has no data on the date and place of birth of Marie Mer-
cereau other than the marriage record in the Church above mentioned,
that she was of Moise in Saintonge. Moise is on the northerly side of
Geronne River and about midway between LaRochelle and Bordeaux. The
Province of Sairtfonge was very small and embraced in the Department of
Gironde or of Charente Inferieur as established during the French Revolu¬
tion.
The town of Osse is about three miles from the Spanish line, and
about 29 miles from Bizarritz, located on the Bay of Biscay, a little south of
Bayonne, a commercial city known, in the early Christian era, as Lapur-
dum, at the mouth of the rivers Nive and Adour. These rivers are of no
particular moment although the Girdone river is a very important stream
inasmuch as it is navigable by ships as far as Bordeaux and by other
water craft on to the Mediterranean Sea via Canal du Midi completed in
1 68 I . The City of LaRochelle was, for many years prior to 1685, the
religious, eductional and gathering place for the Huguenots in the south¬
western and western portions of France. The Department of Vendee was
established during the French Revolution bordering on the Bay of Biscay
north of and adjoining the Department of Charente Inferieur. The Protest¬
ants were especially numerous in this southwestern portion of France prior
to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Jean LaTourettee and Marie Mercereau were undoubtedly married
in France by a Huguenot minister prior to the time of their flight, but, after
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the marriage was of no further
legal effect inasmuch as all Huguenots were denied civil rights, and, later,
a decree of King Louis XV expressly declared that all marriages and
18
baptisms by Huguenot preachers were null and void. (See New American
Enc., Vol. X, p. 298). Moreover, the church records were destroyed, to¬
gether with the Huguenot temples, and it may be assumed that such proo'i
or certificate of marriage as Jean and Marie may have had was lost or
destroyed during their perils in reaching America or at Schenectady on
February 8, 1690. It seems probable that they lost a child or children on
the latter occasion also, and nearly lost their own lives. The fact that a god¬
father and godmother appeared at the christening of the daughter Marie
tends to confirm the above.
Jean and Marie were in real distress, no country, no home, no legal
status as husband and wife, and no means except the meager clothing on
' heir bocies. Except for their religion and the Christian ties they could
have become wanderers and vagrants. Their condition was still more diffi¬
cult because the government of New York Colony was, at the time, very
unstable. Their energy, good sense and friends, however, soon resolved
their difficulties, for they made their way to New York City, became mem¬
bers of the French Church there located, were married under English law,
and obtained formal citizenship.
The record which established their rights as husband and wife under
the law of England and of New York Colony is thus written in the Church
Register:
"Marriage: Aujourhui, Dimanche, seize de Juliet 1693, avant le
priere de soir, a este sollemne le marriage de Jean LaTourette et Marie
Mercereaux, le dit LaTourette d'Osse en Bearn et la ditte Mercereaux
de Moise en St. Onge au Royaume de France, apres le publication de
leur anounces il-y-a-atrois dimanches consecutife en cette Eglise sans
opposition.
JEAN LATOURETTE
Marie Mercereaux
Peiret, Ministre."
(See Collections of the Hug. Soc., Vol. I , p. 29)
At p. 33 of the above collection, it appears that on Wednesday, De¬
cember 6, I 693, after the prayer, Mary, daughter of John LaTourette and
Mary Mercereau, born September 23, last, was presented for holy baptism
by Abraham Canon and Martha Paupain, godfather and godmother.
Peiret minister. At p. 43, same collection, it appears that John LaTourette,
son of the above John and Mary, was baptized, born August 6, I 695. At p.
Wits:
Pierre Masse
D. Mercereaux
Joshui Mercereaux
Elic Boudinet
F. Barberie
19
56, it appears that Peter, son of the above, was baptized, born November
29, 1697, but the father's name is given as Peter LaTourette, whi ch is ap¬
parently an error for John. The collection here referred to was edited by
Alfred V. Wittmeyer, Rector of the French Church du Saint-Esprit.
The city records show that in 1694 the city council issued a warrant
for 50 shillings to Jan LaTourette (evidently John L.) in payment for ser¬
vices as a carpenter. In 1695 Jean LaTourette petitioned, with others, for
citizenship. This petition was copied by the writer from the original in the
State Library, Albany, N. Y., in I 898. It reads as follows:
"To his Excellency Benjamin Fletcher, Capt. General and Governour
in Chief of the Province of N. York and all the territories and tracts of
land depending thereon in America, and Vice Admiral of the same. His
Majesty Lieut, and Commander in Chief of the Militia and of all the
forces by sea and land within his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut and of
all the forts and places of stronghold within the same:
"The humble petition of John LaTourette, a joiner, John Luchava-
lier, a joiner, John Boyd, a blacksmith, Humbly Showeth:
"That your Excellency's petitioners are of foreign birth and protest-
ants and desirous to inhabit and become denizent and subjects of the
Crown of England and in the Province aforesaid, humbly pray your Excell¬
ency that ... (a few words lacking because paper disintegrated by age)
... of the oaths of allegiance and pray . . . (further disintegration) ... be
administered unto them and
"That your Excellency will grant them
letters of denizenship under the great
seal of the Province of New York as in
all duty bound shall ever . . .
"(Signed)
(This name is uncertain)
"Jean Luchavalier
JeanBoyer
Jean La Tourrette"
(See N. Y. Colonial, MSS, I 695, I 696, Vol. XL, p. 74).
The above petition does not appear to be dated or given a file mark
or date, but the next paper in the volume is dated September 24, 1695.
Jean LaTourette's brother-in-law, Daniel Mercereau, obtained
citizenship at the same time. In 1695 Jean LaTourette was taxed 10
shillings on a house in the South Ward, and in 1699 he was taxed 15
shillings on a house in the West Ward. He evidently moved to Staten
Island in 1698 or 1699 because no further taxation on property as owned
by him appears in New York City, and in June of 1698, he and four other
Frenchmen obtained from John Bell ville a deed of trust for the French
20
Church site on Staten Island, embracing one-half acre. The site of the
Church was along Fresh Kills. Jean LaTourette in the same year obtained
75 acres for himself along Fresh Kills from Francis Lee, who, in 1680, ob¬
tained a patent to it from Governor Edmund Andros.
In the Staten Island Census of I 706 Jean LaTourette and his family
appear. The Courthouse records from that time until 1725 show various
matters in which his name is mentioned. In I 723 he was elected Justice of
the Court of Common Pleas. About the same time he appears as Warden
of St. Andrews Church. In 1724 he was Justice of the Court of Special
Sessions. In I 725 he was again elected a Justice, and he apparently served
until July of that year. His name does not further appear, and so it is as¬
sumed that he died the same year.
He erected a stone house on the 75-acre tract and resided there with
his family until the time of his death. No probate record of his estate has
been found by the writer. Under the English law the property went to his
oldest son, John LaTourette, born as shown above, in 1695. This John (o
Jean, Jr.) deeded the property in 1733 to others of the family and, ult*
mately it came to Henry, who v/as next to the youngest son.
Vosberg, in his Staten Island records, writes:
A chronicle of 1850 states that Henry I. Seaman's house on Fresh
Kills lies just south of the former French Church site; a portion of this
house is 150 years old, so considered by Mr. Seaman. If so it is co-eval
with the original French Church on Bellville's acre. This house was origin¬
ally inhabited by one of the LaTourettes, that ancient Huguenot family.
In front of the house flows the smooth waters of the Fresh Kills and its
meanderings can be traced till the mountains of New Jersey bound the
scene.
The last documentary evidence regarding the French Church
Register was sworn to by Henry LaTourette in a certified copy of ex¬
tracts, and is now in the New York Historical Society Library. Henry
LaTourette, weaver, lived at Fresh Kills not far from the site of the
Church; undoubtedly the Church Register was in his hands in 1758."
Henry LaTourette was the last member of the LaTourette family to
live on the 75-acre tract. He died in I 798. His widow sold the tract to one
Alexander Cairns.
The Staten Island Historian, published by the Staten Island Historical
Society, Vol. VII, January-March, 1944, shows some early history and
memoranda from "A Bit of Quaint Old Staten Island," published in
21
Harper's Weekly in August, 1892, written by Flavel Scott Mines. T us
article is about old buildings before 1700 and includes the LaTourette
house above mentioned. A picture taken by William Mersereau about
I 890 is shown. A part of the article as published at p. 8 of the Historian,
is as follows:
"Between St. Andrews Church and Mt. Izzard stands a stone house
that antedates the Revolution by many years.
"There are a dozen or more of like pattern thereabouts, but a par¬
ticular study was made of this one. The house was built of rough stones,
and white mortar, with peaked roof covered with hand-made shingles.
Everything about the house is hand-made, and home-made, and it stands
to-day as a monument to the skill of its old builder."
At this point a note is subjoined, reading as follows:
"The reference is to the 'old LaTourette House,' the ruins of which
may still be traced on the present LaTourette Golf Course, just above
the large hillside spring. This interesting old building, illustrated here in
its ruined state, is well worth a separate article. However, the description
of the interior is notable, and possibly the only one on record. It is of
special interest in comparision with the recent discoveries made in the
Stillwell-Parine House, a contemporary building, (The Historian, Vol. VI,
No. 2, p. 9), especially the detailed description of the kitchen fire¬
place."
The article which we are quoting continues:
"There are four rooms in the house, all on the ground floor. The
walls are nearly two feet in thickness, and above the rafters ere several
inches of stone and mud. The kitchen is most interesting. The rafters are
black with smoke, and just above the hearthstone charred with flame. The
chimney begins with the rafters, about eighteen inches wide, and three
feet long, like a wide mouth to eat the flame and smoke, then it gradually
tapers until the normal size is reached at the peak of the roof. The hearth
stones are several immense slabs, like paying stones, laid neatly on the
ground even with the flooring. Upon this hearth the fire was built and
blazed merrily against the wall of Jhe house, and above are bars ana
hooks from which kettles, and pots v/ere suspended. To the left is a small
brick arch in the wall which connects with the outside oven, the ruins of
which are plainly marked. The windows are small, with solid wooden
blinds and heavy fastenings, for Indians probably lived near by when the
house was built. The wood-work of the house is fastened with heavy
wooden pegs, and the latches and hinges on the doors are home-made
and curious in pattern. One set of hinges is shaped something like a sun-
fish with an elongated tail, and the iron is wrapped around and around
the upright bolt on which it swings. Between the kitchen and the next
22
room is a tiny entry of which one side was utilized as a closet. There are
two doors from this entry, one from either room, and by this means
one might pass into the kitchen, without allowing the smoke to fill the
house. To judge by the walls and rafters of the kitchen, this precaution
was necessary. Each room had a double Dutch door leading to the out¬
side, and the connecting doors are of plain wood. In one room the walls
are all panelled with small oblong pieces of wood set upright, and the
effect is very pleasing. The beams on which the floor is laid rest on
the ground, and are thick and solid, as are the rafters as well. The old
high mantel has been taken away from the room at the other end of the
house from the kitchen, to accomplish which part of the side wall was
torn down. Outside the house in the long weeds was found an old hand¬
made plow and harrow, rude in make and yet as effective as more
modern implements. . . . Down the hill again to Richmond. Just beyond
the Churchyard is a long, low house more than a century and a half in
age, yet it seems modern now, age being merely relative. There is an old
millstone sunk into the road as a carriage block, bearing evidence of long
use. The mill, however, is gone. The little stream flows under the road.
We go down the same road where the soldiers marched long ago past the
sites of the old taverns and the still swinging sign of the 'Black Horse.'
The roadside is dotted with little houses belonging to the days of
Cocklestow, and then Richmond is left behind in the valley, a memory of
olden days. The Railroad station is at Nieuwe Dorp, where lived Jacob
van der Bilt, the son of ' Aris and Hilitje, his wife', and but a short dis¬
tance back arises the magnificent tomb of William H. Vanderbilt, the
railroad king who sleeps where his forefathers kept their farm nearly
two hundred years ago."
From the above one may easily imagine Jean and Marie L. going about
their daily tasks and on Sundays going to the services in the French
Church building which they no doubt had a part in erecting. Manifestly
both of them were healthy, strong and earnest people. They were pioneers
who had movd to a western border where protection against Indians was
necessary as well as the tasks of clearing land, building a permanent dwell¬
ing and out-buildings, making of garden, planting, sowing and harvesting
on the farm, as well as other activities of a civic and religious nature above
indicated. How proud must the descendants be of such ancestry, and
how worthy an example of industry, thrift, integrity and Christian living!
They kept the faith and passed it on to their children, their children’s
children, and so to the present time.
From the data above, it must be concluded that Jean LaTourette was
born at Osse in what is now Bassee Pyrenees, France, about 1651, and that
Marie Mercereau was born at Moise, Gironde (formerly St. Onge), France,
23
about 1665; that they were married by a Huguenot minister in France
about I 684; that they came to America about I 685 by a ship which, in dis¬
tress of storm landed on Staten Island, or in the vicinity of New York; that
they were in the Schenectady fire and massacre February 8, I 690, and that
they established a home in New York City the same year. Their marriage
was "solemnized" in the French Church, New York City, July 16, 1693. He
died about July, 1725; she died about 1733. From here on, the record is
clear although the exact dates are not always certain.
The children of Jean and Marie LaTourette were the following:
Mary, born September 23, 1693, married Samuel Broome, died
John or Jean, born August 6, I 695, married Marie Mercereau, daughter
of Joshue Mercereau and Marie Chadraigne, 1725, died, 1794.
Peter, born November 28, 1697, married Marianne, daughter of Daniel
Mercereau
David, born December 28, 1699, married Catherine Poillon.
Susanna, born about I 704, married Jan Van Pelt.
Henry, born I 708, married I st, Susan Parlier; 2nd, Sarah Lane.
James, born 1710, died 1738, unmarried.
There seems to have been another daughter, Esther, born in 1696,
who married Paul Mercereau. She died in I 780.
The first three or four were born in New York City and christened
there. The others were born on Staten Island, probably christened in
the church, which they helped to build and which was destroyed by Hes¬
sians during the Revolutionary War. Susanna and Jan Van Pelt had a
son, Jan, born May 23, 1729. Clute's History of Staten Island (p. 432)
gives the baptism date, May 28, 1728, of Jan and Susanna, twins.
The writer assumes that there are genealogies published covering
the Broome and Mercereau families and, therefore, does not under¬
take here to give further data about Mary or Esther. The same also applies
to the Van Pelt family.
Some of those who have studied the LaTourette genealogy have
thought that Henry LaTourette of Fresh Kills, Staten Island, was a
grandson, rather than son, of Jean and Marie who fled from France
about 1685. Indeed the writer was at first inclined to that view, being
puzzled by the record of marriage in New York City in 1693, when the re¬
cord of their flight from France showed that they were already husband
24
and wife, and by the difficulty of getting birth or baptismal dates and
names of children other than Marie, John and Peter. Further study revealed
the facts of other children, (their names and birth dates), including Henry,
born in 1708, and no doubt baptised in the French Church at Fresh Kills,
which Jean and Marie helped to establish and which remained until the
Revolutionary War when it was destroyed by British or Hessian soldiers, in¬
cluding the church yard grave-stones, and the church records, although
it seems that Henry had for a time a copy of the christening and marriage
records, but the writer, being unable to locate it, had to proceed by look¬
ing up official records such as wills, deeds, census, etc., and later church
records, grave-stones, etc. Thus the baptismal records of the grandsons of
Jean and Marie, were shown, and the business activities of Henry of Fresh
Kills. It then clearly appeared that none of the grandsons was old enough
in I 737 to I 744 to be doing the business transactions that Henry, of Fresh
Kills, was doing. John, the oldest son of Jean and Mane was not married
until 1725, and his oldest son was not baptized until 1726. Another, called
Henricus, v/as baptized in 1730, but, even if he was born some 13 years
earlier, he could not have been doing the things that Henry of Fresh Kills
was doing in I 737, etc. However the dates given for the birth or baptism
indicate that the baptism was near the date of birth, and the date of
birth (1708) of Henry of Fresh Kills was in line with the birth dates of his
brothers and sisters. Thus it seems certain that he was a son rather than
grand-son of Jean and Marie who fled from France.
Another point of difficulty was the fact that family tradition hardly
carried beyond the period of the Revolutionary War when, for nearly eight
years, Staten Island, New York City, Long Island and Rhode Island were in
possession of British and Hessian soldiers. New Jersey, western New York,
Pennsylvania, etc., were in the control of the Continental Army. People
residing on the west side were ca lid Torries by the people on the other side.
There was much ill feeling, especially about the time of suffering at Valley
Forge, which was not far from where some of the LaTourettes lived. The
writer gained slight information from his father, Uncle Orange and aunts
about what happened to the LaTourettes prior to the war.
25
Chapter VI
JOHN LATOURETTE AND MARIE MERCEREAU, DAUGHTER OF
JOSHUE MERCEREAU AND MARIE CHADEYN OR CHADREIGN
This John was born and married as above. His father apparently
left no will, and he, being the oldest son, inherited the home place under
the English law. He seems to have lived there until the death of his mother
about I 733, when he deeded the property to other members of the fam¬
ily and moved to Mariner's Harbor at the northwesterly corner of Staten
Island. He there became a ship or boat builder and was associated with
his father-in-law and uncle in the operation of ferry boats on New York
Harbor. This operation was carried on at Port Richmond, which is a little
northeast of Mariner's Harbor. The courthouse records show various
tansactions by him, including a deed by himself and wife to his brother-
in-law, Samuel Broome, of sixty-seven acres, a deed to his brother, James,
a deed to Peter Zeloff in Northfield (land deeded later by Peter Zeloff to
his son, Solomon, whose daughter in 1811 married Paul LaTourette, a
grandson of John), a deed to his son, John, Jr., to land adjoining the
above, and in 1774 a deed to his son, Paul, of land adjacent. In 1739 he
was Justice of the Court of Common Pleas on Staten Island.
The children of the above marriage were the following:
David, baptized April 24, I 726
Marie, baptized September 8, 1728
Henricus, baptized January 24, I 730 or 1731
John, born in 1734, died in 1783, married Susanna Christopher,
1757
Elizabeth, married Nicholas Backer in I 755
Paul, born in 1738, died in 18....; married Sarah Merrill in 1759
Peter, born in I 742, died I 8....; married Abigail Mercereau.
26
Chapter VII
PETER LATOURETTE, (BORN IN 1697), AND MARIANNE MERCEREAU,
DAUGHTER OF DANIEL AND SUSANNA (DOUCINAT) MERCEREAU
Peter LaTourette married Marianne Mercereau in I 725. He became a
"planter" (farmer) on Staten Island and spent his life there. He died in
I 754. He left a will which was probated in Richmond county. Their children
were baptized in the Reformed Church of Port Richmond, Staten Island. As
they grew to maturity, all, except James, settled in New Jersey, mostly at
or about Amwell in Hunterdon county in the west-central part of the state.
Some of them were active in the Revolutionary War as later shown.
The children were as follows:
Peter, born in I 725 or I 726; died I 808; married Cleffy Patmore.
Daniel, baptized March 3, 1728; died October 18, 1827, un¬
married; soldier, 1776.
David, baptized October 11,1 730, married Catherine Lane
Jaques (James), baptized October II, 1730 (twin of David);
soldier, I 759.
Marie Susanne, baptized March 24, I 733; died I 820, unmarried,
(See will).
Elisabeth .baptized April 26, I 736; married Johnson.
27
Chapter VIII
DAVID LATOURETTE, BORN 1699, MARRIED CATHERINE POILLON
He was born at Fresh Kills, Staten Island. His wife was a daughter of
Jacques Po i lion and Catherine Le Conte. Catherine, through her parents,
inherited considerable wealth, including lands along Price s Bay, Staten
Island. David was a planter by occupation. He and Catherine reared
their children on the farm here mentioned. Their children were baptized in
the Dutch Reformed Church. They were as follows:
Fanny, born 1731, married Jonathan Lewis, b. I 728, d. I 785.
James, born, I 732, died I 785; married Elizabeth Lewis.
Marie, baptized September I , I 734.
David, born 1739; (died 1808); married 1st, Elizabeth Morgan;
2nd, Marie Simonson.
Catherine, born 1738; married Stephen Bedell.
Stephen and Catherine Bedell had a son, who became Rev.
Bedell of Philadelphia. He married a Miss Thurston, and they had a son
who became Bishop Bedell of Ohio. Jonathan Lewis and Elizabeth Lewis
were children of Jonathan Lewis of Westfield who died in I 764. His wife s
first name was Abigail.
28
Chapter IX
HENRY LATOURETTE (BORN 1 708) AND SUSAN PARLIER OR
SUSANNA PERLEE
Henry LaTouret+e enjoyed a long life (1708 to 1794) during which
he conducted a weaving business on Staten Island at Fresh Kills and was
active in many business matters on Staten Island and in New Jersey prior
to and after the Revolutionary War. He was twice married. His children
were by his first wife, Susan or Susanne Parlier. His second wife was Sarah
Lane Wood, widow of Stephen Wood.
Lawrence LaTourette Driggs has prepared a considerable record of
Henry LaTourette's activities which he submitted to the writer with a
letter dated March 8, 1936. The data is as foil ows:
"HENRY LATOURETTE, son of Jean and Marie (Mercereau)
LaTourette was born in I 708 at Fresh Kills, S. I., and died there I 794.
He was a weaver by profession, was coroner for Staten Island;
warden of St. Andrew's Church; loaned on mortgages in Staten Island
and New Jersey and accumulated considerable property which he left
to his children.
The mother of his children appears to be Susanna Parlier, daughter
of Jean Parlier, boatman of Fresh Kills, and wife Anne Rezeau. The names
of his children correspond to those of the Parlier family; his oldest
daughter, Susanna, born 1743, married Peter Cole, and named her first
child Susanna Parlier Cole; in 1760 Henry LaTourette, weaver, records a
satisfaction of mortgage on Peter Parlier's land dated 1743, about the
date of Henry's first marriage. He records several other deeds at this
date, indicating that he is clearing the records to show his own title to
those properties on Fresh Kills. Since no consideration is given in this
Peter Parlier mortgage, it is possible that this land' came to Henry
LaTourette, weaver, as a dower with his first wife, Susanne Parlier.
He married second, in I 764, Sarah Lane, widow of Stephen Wood.
She survived until 1806, and died in Bound Brook, N.J., at the home of
her step-son-in-law, William De Groot.
Henry LaTourette, weaver, probably was buried at St. Andrew's,
Richmond, where he was warden and custodian of the Church records
through the period of the War of the Revolution. The last trace of these
early records appears to be a copy certified by his own hand, now in the
New York Historical Society Library.
Henry LaTourette appears frequently as executor of wills, as
witness, mortgagee, and grantee; a series of deeds recorded in I 760
29
reveals the fact that he acquired from his brothers and sisters all the
original estate left by his father on Fresh Kills; he purchased from
neighbors adjoining plots, and here he conducted his weaving house.
"In 1771 Henry LaTourette writes to the governor of the state
asking to be relieved from his post as coroner; the records show many
fees paid to him as coroner from 1763 to 1784. Following are some of
the records found concerning him:
1737 Henry and James LaTourette, weavers, sign joint will;
1739 Henry gets plot on Fresh Kills from Peter Parlier;
I 739 He gets plot, 40 acres, from Jan Van Pelt;
1744 Obtains plot from James Egbert; another in 1757;
1759 He is executor in Abraham Lockerman's will, Richmond;
1750 He records six or eight deeds, some twenty years old;
1763 He is witness to his brother John's will;
1764 He is executor to his brother David's will;
1764 Executor to will of Stephen Wood, cornwainer, this same year
he marries Sarah (Lane) Wood, widow of Stephen;
1765 He is executor of will of James Egbert;
I 766 He lends Benjamin Clark sixty pounds on plot in Elizabeth, N.J.;
1767 He lends John Van Pelt 400 pounds on plot next John Mer-
cereau and John Poilon on Fresh Kills;
1768 He sues Paul Mercereau on a debt, Richmond;
1770 Executor of John Marshall's will, Richmond;
1771 He and brother John witness Samuel Broome's will;
1772 Lends 140 pounds to David Biggs and wife Elizabeth, on plot
on Milestone River, N.J. Lends Joseph Biggs twenty-seven
pounds on adjoining plot;
1774 On jury, Richmond county; lends Tunis Egbert, schoolmaster;
1777 Witness to will of Paul Mercereau;
1778 Executor in will of Adrain La Forge, weaver;
1780 Witness of will of his sister, Esther;
I 783 Lends son Peter 600 pounds to buy plantation at Woodbridge,
N.J.;
Lends John Mercereau of Woodbridge, 300 pounds;
1790 Appears in census at Westfield, S.l. with wife and two boys;
lends 200 pounds to James Thorp of Woodbridge, paid
1801;
1784 Lends Jeremiah Manning and wife Rachel, Woodbridge, 214
pounds; lends Thomas Manning, Woodbridge, twenty-
seven pounds;
1784 Sues Abraham Parlier, settled for five pounds, Richmond;
I 79 I Lends 200 pounds to John Mercereau, merchant, Woodbridge;
1792 Lends 200 pounds to James Jackson, Woodbridge, paid 1803;
1794 Henry LaTourette, 'by reason of indisposition of Body and
30
many infirmities totally incapaciting me for attending
to the prosecution of my secular affairs' gives power of
attorney to his son Peter, to collect monies due him; Henry
is eighty-six.
I 794 His will probated this year. Leaves 25 pounds to Marie, daugh¬
ter of his deceased brother John, gives plantation in
Hunterdon county, N.J. to Susanna, daughter of his son
Henry; the balance of his estate goes to his wife and
children, except his son Henry is specifically omitted;
later this son Henry is given his share by family consent;
1806 Sarah, his wife, dies, leaving sums to her Wood children and
her LaTourette grandchildren; St. Andrew's gets a
beguest, John LaTourette and NA/illiam De Groot are
executors; . . . ".
In 1795, the widow and children of Henry, weaver, record an agree¬
ment, not withstanding the will" to give this son, Henry, one-sixth of the
estate, "to remove every ray of prejudice."
The widow, Sarah (Lane LaTourette,) paid the executors $1,000 for
the equity in the Fresh Kills property, and in 1803, she sold the old home¬
stead to Captain Alexander Cairns, her next-door neighbor. Sarah left her
step-son, Henry, a trust fund of $3,000, "the income to be paid him as he
may need it."
In 1776, the British army, under General Howe, landed on Staten
Island and continued to occupy it until the end of the war. All citizens who
did not take the oath of allegiance to England, were seized and their
property confiscated. Henry LaTourette remained with other landowners,
and, doubtless, swore allegiance to the British, perforce. All of his sons
were in New Jersey where they had homes, — Henry at Lebanon, in Hunt¬
erdon county, John at Bond Brook, and Peter across Arthur Kills, at Wood-
bridge, three miles distant, where he followed weaving, with his father's
tools. The Tory newspapers of this period relate many stories of daring
raids made by this Peter, with others, against British gunboats lying off
Woodbridge and Perth Amboy. Peter captured a cannon from a British
ship and afterwards fired it off in Woodbridge on Fourth of July for many
years.
The children of Henry and Susanna were:
Susanna, born I 743; married, 1764, Peter Cole.
Henry, born 1745; married Rebecca DeMott.
John, born 1749; married, 1777, Elizabeth Bond; 1800,
Ruth Blackford.
31
Ann, born 1751; married, 1777, Abraham Cannon, (2)
I 780 William DeGroot.
Peter, born 1754; married, 1782, Elizabeth Androvette.
For data in regard to the Androvettes, see Baird s History of the
Huguenot Emigration to America, Vol. II, p. 118.
James LaTourette, the youngest brother of Henry, never married.
He was a weaver and worked with his brother, Henry, until his death in
1738, at Fresh Kills, Staten Island. He was born in 1710.
/
3?
Chapter X.
SUSANNAH AND PETER COLE
This family has been written up by J. F. Keve (Arlington, Iowa) in a
little book entitled "History of the Keve Family". Mr. Keve shows that
Peter Cole was a tailor; he and Susanna lived at Bergen Point, N.J., where
they reared their children; he made his will in I 809; she made hers in 1811;
each passed away soon after the will was made; wills were probated in Ber¬
gen County; they had the following children:
Elizabeth, who married Van Boskek;
Isaac, who married Betsy Oliver;
John LaTourette (born Dec. 21,1 768) who married Theo-
docia Fullwood; and
Esther, who married a Prendhomme.
Of John LaTourette Cole, Mr. Keve writes: While a mere boy he
served as messenger for General Washington during the winter he was
encamped at Valley Forge. He moved from New Jersey in I 8 I 2 or 1813,
to Warren County, Ohio. He was honored by being a deacon in the Pres¬
byterian Church. He was a weaver by trade. He died Feb. 5, 1848."
Mr. Keve, in a letter to the writer of these annals dated from Mt.
Vernon, Iowa, Dec. 29, 1927, relates that his cousin, Lucia K. Tower (see
page 20 of his History) when in Paris obtained a copy of the LaTourette
and Mercereau coats of arms; that she furnished a copy of each of these
to him, except the descriptions which were so abbreviated and in technical
French that his cousin was unable to make out the meaning. Mr. Keve for¬
warded a copy to the writer of each coat of arms. The Mercereau coat of
arms shows in yellow two ducks facing each other and sitting in water.
I he background is colored water blue. The LaTourette coat of arms is of
similar size, shape and background, but the central part is made up of
two full diamond shaped figures, three in each row, and parts of seven
other similar figures.
Mr. Keve, in his History, further states that Theodocia Fullwood (John
LaTourette Cole's wife) was born on the West Indian Island of Nevis, Aug.
21, 1772; died Feb. 15, 1848, at Lima, Ohio; that she probably came to
America on the same ship with Alexander Hamilton; that she and her
husband were buried at Lima, Ohio; that on page 362, Land Titles of
Hudson County, N. J., the children of John Cole and Dosie Fullwood
33
appear as follows:
Sophia, b. Feb. 19, I 793; m. Dec. 1 , 1814, Abr. VanDalson
Susannah, b. Sept. 8, I 795, m. John Seaman,
Charlotte, b. Sept. I, 1803, m. William Ramsey.
Esther P., b. April 24, 1806, m. William Woodward.
Elizabeth Oliver, b. Apr. 27, 1800, m. John Keve II, about 1830.
John Fullwood, b.. m. Nancy Ann Watson.
Eliphelet Cole II, b.
Peter
The latter four children were apparently not given in the above
record. Mr. Keve writes that he found the birth record of Elizabeth Oliver
Cole at page 273, Records of the Hackensack Dutch Reformed Church,
where it appears that she was baptized Oct. 2, being born April 27th,
1800. She was the grandmother of the author, John Fremont Keve, who
was a son of Cyrus J. Keve and Sabine (Florey), m. Dec. 14, I 862. Cyrus J.,
in turn, was a son of Elizabeth Oliver Cole who married John Keve II about
I 830. John Fremont Keve, in his History pp. I 0 and I I , writes of her:
"Elizabeth Oliver Cole Keve, the heroine of this history, was noted
in her youth for her great beauty, and in her more mature years for her
queenly bearing and intensely religious character. Her very appearance
proclaimed her to be one of superior birth, while her majestic and dignified
presence reminded one of her noble French ancestors . . . On invitation
of her son Cyrus, she made her home with him in about I 865 at Paoli, Wis.
She died of liver complaint November 14, 1868." The History of the
Keve Family, at pages 12 and following, gives the marriages and descend-
ents of the three sons above mentioned of John LaTourette Cole and his
wife, Theodocia Fullwood. At page 9 he shows that Alexander Hamilton
came to this country from Nevis in October, I 772, and that "according to
our tradition Theodocia was born in Nevis and came over in the same
ship with Hamilton."
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) came from Nevis to Elizabethtown,
N.J., when fifteen years of age in order to prepare for college. A year
later he entered Columbia College (now University, New York City) where
his genius soon became apparent. In Encyclopedia Britannica (9th Ed.,
Vol. I I, page 412) we read: "Hamilton's mother was of French extrac¬
tion, and was directly descended from one of the noble old Huguenots,
who, after the infamous revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV,
*n 1685, had deserted- his native land rather than betray his religion, and
34
sought a home on one of the western isles." And at page 414, it is stated
that "the premature death of Hamilton was a national calamity."
Mention should be made also that Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth),
Woodbridge, Bergen Point, Hackensack, Boundbrook, Plainfield, Lebanon,
Annadale, Whitehouse, etc., are in New Jersey, and within 5 to 25 miles
of Fresh Kills, Staten Island. It seems that most of the LaTourettes in Amer¬
ica take their descent from ancestors that resided in or near these
places in the I 7th and I 8th centuries.
1279768
Chapter XI.
HENRY LATOURETTE
This Henry (son of Henry of Fresh Kills) settled at Lebanon, N.J.,
shortly before the Revolutionary War. He occupied a "plantation" which
his father had acquired. The location was in a remote part of New Jersey
at the time, for it was without transportation except by horse until long
after the war. Note must be taken of the fact that the railways were
not common until after I 850. Steamboats were not common until after
1820. However, steamboats would not have been of benefit to Henry, of
Lebanon, inasmuch as there was no navigable waterway. The nearest point
to water transportation was probably Boundbrook (17 miles distant) on
the Raritan River. Boundbrook is about fifteen miles above the mouth of
the rivor in New York Lower Bay, at the southerly tip of Staten Island.
From this place, Fresh Kills, where his father lived, could bo reached only
by rowboat or small sailboat, a distance of about seven miles along Arthur
Kill. There was, of course, no telegraph, telephone, or radio. Probably there
was no stage-coach, or postal service, until long after Henry and his wife,
had taken up their residence at Lebanon. Living conditions, at that time,
were no doubt more difficult at Lebanon, N.J., than at Oregon City, Ore¬
gon, in 1850, when the writer's father began his residence thorc.
Mr. J. L. Clickener, a grand-son of John LaTourette of Bound Brook,
in a letter to this author dated at Tangier, I nd . , July 28th, 1890, wrote:
"Henry LaTourette of Fresh Kills, S.l. (weaver) made his will Jan. 19, I 794,
proved Dec. 30, 1794, in which he speaks of his wife Sarah, his sons,
Henry, John and Peter, and his daughter, Susan, (this should be Ann),
wife of Peter Cole, and Susan, wife of William DeGroot. Now all of these
persons I am weil acquainted with historically. I have heard mother speak
of them time and again as her aunts and uncles. Henry lived and died with¬
in three miles of White House Station where I was born and lived until I
was eighteen years old. He had one child. We called them Aunt Becky
and Uncle Jake DeMott. The same of Aunt Susan DeGroot and Uncle
William. They lived at Bond Brook and had three children, one son who
died at sea, Sally, married Dr. Swan of Somerville, Betsy married John G.
Steel of Bond Brook. Great Uncle Peter LaTourette married an Adrovette
and moved to what was called at that time the Susquehanna Country in
1819, and there are plenty of descendents still living in Wayne County,
Pa. Great Aunt Ann Cole and Uncle Peter moved near to Cincinnati at
36
an early day and their descendents still live along the Miami River between
Cincinnatti and Dayton, Ohio."
The above reference to "Aunt Becky and Uncle Jake DeMott" is con¬
fusing. Henry, of Fresh Kills, makes no mention in his will of his son Henry's
wife, but mentions his daughter as Susanna. Mr. Clickener enclosed with
the above letter a "Schedule A" in which he mentions Henry, of Fresh
Kills, giving the children as "Susan born 1743, married Wm. DeGroot;
Henry, born 1746, married; had daughter Rebeka DeMott; John (grand¬
father) born 1749, married Elizabeth Bond; Ann born 1751, married Peter
Cole; Peter born 1754, married Androvett, Wayne Co., Penn."
Wm. M. LaTourette states, in a letter to this writer, dated
October 31, 1919, from 754 Kensington Ave., Plainfield, N.J., "We know
from the will of the elder Henry that his son, Henry, had a daughter
Susanna, who inherited a farm at Lebanon, N.J. Soon after I 794 she mar¬
ried Jacob DeMott, but further than this we know nothing except that we
have the record from her tombstone."
From the above it seems probable that Susanna was the only child
of Henry of Lebanon; that she is the one referred to as "Aunt Becky ,
although she was a cousin of Mr. Clickener's mother, and that there is now
no descendent of Henry, of Lebanon.
37
Chapter XII.
JOHN LATOURETTE (BORN 1 749), AND ELIZABETH BOND
Mr. Clickener, in the above letter, further writes: "John LaTourette,
your great-grandfather, married Elizabeth Bond. She was born near Man¬
chester, England. There came to this country, of this family, (4) Joseph,
Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah. Joseph and Mary never married, died at
Ovid Center, Seneca County, New York. Sarah married Mjr. Hank Van
Nortwick who owned the Bond Brook Ferry, and the land on which South
Bond B rook now stands (and I think cousin James LaTourette owns a part
of this original Van Nortwick farm. Now Aunt Sail Van Nortwick had no
children, so grandfather and grandmother L.'s children were the only
descendents of the Bonds."
Mr. Clickener, in Schedule B accompanying the above letter, gives
the family data of John G. and Elizabeth (Bond) Latourette of Bound
Brook, as follows:
"Children of John and Elizabeth (nee Bond) LaTourette:
Nancy Ann, born 1779, died 1806;
David, born 1780, died 1853, father of Lyman LaTourette who
died in Oregon.
Sarah (Susanna), born I 782, died I 833, married Jeremiah Powell,
died in Michigan.
Henri, born I 785, died I 84-, had one daughter;
Joseph Bond, born 1787, died 1849 in Canada, single.
Mary 'mother', born 1789, died 1853, married Mathias Click¬
ener, I 805;
Susan, born 1791, died I 86-, married Isaac Manning, 1807.
John, my wife's father, born 1783, died 1849, married Sarah
Schenck, in 1816 (Dec. 15).
Abram, born 1794, died I 87-, married a Manny. Not less than
five children or more than seven.
Th is closes the second (generation). I am the 12th child in our
family, born 1831, Oct. 10." (He was in error about the
wife of Abram for she was Phoebe Bodine).
The writer found the family Bible of John G. and Elizabeth in 1898, in
the possession of Isaac Manning, South Plainfield, N.J. It gives data sub¬
stantially as above with much additional. The entire record will be copied
here, except some little parts where the paper was frayed too much:
38
The Sons and Daughters of John and Elizabeth Latourette
- nn, Born October 22, 1776, Died April 26, 1806.
David, born July 12, 1780.
Sarah, born Feb. 3, I 782.
Henry, born Oct. 9, I 785.
Joseph, born May 28, 1787.
Mary, born March 25, 1789.
Susanna, born Feb. 23, 1791.
John L., born Jan'y 30, 1793.
Abraham, born Nov. 4, 1794.
Elizabeth Lambrit, born Nov. 19, 1795.
Matthias Clickiner was born - - -, 1794.
John William Luobold, barkman, born Nov. 2 1 , 1847,
German boy to I. Manning.
Isaac Manning was born September the 31 1789.
Julia LaTourette , his grand-daughter, was born October the
31st, 1836.
Of the Sons and Daughters of Elijah and Pheobe Chamberlen:
Julia, born Jan. 31, I 845.
Annahgusta, born June 10, 1847.
William, born April 25, 1851.
John K., born Jan. 8, 1856.
(Here some of the page is torn off, but no data is
thought to be missing.)
Of the Children of Isaac and Susanna Manning:
Nathaniel Drake Manning was born Oct. 17, 1810.
Still Manning, born June 3, 1812.
Eliza Ann Manning, born July 30,1814.
John Manning, born Feb. 3, 1816.
Benjamin Manning, born June 20, 1817.
W m. B. Manning, born -gust 20, I 820.
Phoebe Manning was born December 24, 1824.
Nathaniel Drake Manning, died Dec. 30, 1854.
Julia Chamberlain died June 21,1 846.
John K. Chamberlain died June 25, 1858.
39
Es+illa Clawson died May 14, 1848.
Sarah El ku Manning died Sept. 16, 1861.
Nettie Manning died Sept. 30 1875.
(Here the remainder of the page is gone but it does not
appear that any data is missing. )
Mother Elizabeth LaTourette died July 8, 1798, aged 43.
Nancy LaTourette died April 26, 1806.
Grand-mother Bond died April 25, 1789.
Grand-mother Sarah LaTourette died Jan. 14. 1806.
Father John LaTourette died Feb. 22, 1813, at 2 o'clock in the
morning, 62 years of age.
Aunt Sally Vanotrick died Feb. 3, 1833, aged 76.
Mary Clickinger died Feb. 22, 1849.
David LaTourette died July 16, 1852. (Grand-father of L.E.L.,
compiler).
Mother Phebe Manning died Feb. 3, I 833.
Sarah Frances Manning died Dec. 25, I 837. (Sister of aunt of
Isaac M.)
Father Benjamin Manning died June 2, I 839. (Father of Isaac M.)
Isaac Manning died Jan. 19, 1861, aged 7 I yrs. I mo. I 9 days.
Matthias Clickiner died Nov. 24, 1845. (Husband of Mary,
known as "Dolly").
Minnie Nevins died Aug. 28, 1861.
Susanna Manning died May I I, 1869, aged 78 yrs., 2 mos., 17
days. (Wife of Isaac Manning.)
MARRIAGES.
Isaac Manning and Susanna LaTourette were married by Rev. Jacob
Randolph, I 5 April, 1809.
Mathias Clickiner and Mary LaTourette, married Jan. 21, 1806.
Julia Manning and Aaron Peck married June I 6, 1857. (In Turkey.)
Births of Sons and Daughters of William B. and Susan Manning.
Franklin Pierce, born Sept. 20, 1852.
Albert Still, born Nov. 15, 1854.
Anna Janett, born Nov. 24, I 856.
Sarah Ellen, born April 8, I 859.
Mary Emma, born March 4, 1861.
Clara, born Apr. 9, I 862.
Abram L. born May 14, I 866.
May, born Oct. I 8, I 867.
Laura, born Dec. 18, 1871.
40
Still Maning and Henrietta Dawes married Oct. 23
Nathaniel Drake Manning and Mary Ann Siples married Dec. 8, 1840.
Phebe Manning and Elijah Chamberlin married Sept. 12, 1840.
John Manning and Mary Ann Pyatt married Jan. 15, 184- (torn off)
Andrew Clawson and Eliza Ann Manning married Dec. 28, 1842.
William B. Manning and Susan LaTourette married Jan. I, 185- (torn
off).
(End of Bible Record.)
Peter LaTourette, writing from South Plainfield, N.J., to this author
under date of Nov. 14, 1897, gives information similar to part of the
above. He refers to Mary, the sixth child of John, of Bound Brook, as Polly.
John's son, Abraham, born Nov. 4, 1794, is given as marrying Phoebe
Bodine (b. March 21, 1793) on June 15, 1815. HI e says they had "sons
and daughters as follows:
Elizabeth Ann, born April 8, 1816, married Hiram Osgood, Jany.
28, 1841, died Aug. 10, 1873 and left a family.
Abraham J., born Sept. 18, 1817, married Eliza Williams Oct.
22, 1839, died in Tennessee Jany 18, 1894.
Peter, born Feby I, 1820, married Amelia S. Jackson, Oct. 23,
1845. She died Apl. 22, 1849, leaving an infant. Married
again to Anna M. Lacy Oct. 3, 1852.
Alla Maria, born Aug. 3, 1822. Married Isaac Lamereaux, June
17, 1844, 3 children.
William O., born Aug. 13, 1824, married Margaret Van Fleet,
Nov. 6, 1850.
Susan, born July 22, 1826, married her cousin, William Manning,
Jany I , I 850. Lives here.
Sarah B., born April 3, 1831, married Randsom Powell. Powell
died and she's still at North Hector, N.Y.
Anzolette, born June 16, I 833, married Joseph Hunt, June, 1862.
Hunt died in 1865. Married George Osgood of Mich.,
March I I, 1868, and she died Feby. 22, 1895.
Daniel, born Oct. 2, 1835, married Nancy Ann Miller, Sept. 23,
1857, childless.
This ends the children of Abraham LaTourrette and Phoebe
Bodine. I went to the cemetery this P.M. and got date of death
of John LaTourrette, Feby 22, 1813, and some of Isaac and Sus¬
anna Manning family."
41
Peter LaToure+te inclosed a photograph of Abraham, apparently
taken in his latter years. It looks much like photographs of his brother,
David, of Lodi, grandfather of the writer. He was a robust, energetic
looking man. The writer has often heard his father and aunts (father's
sisters) speak of "Uncle Abe."
Another letter to the writer from the above Peter, dated from
South Plainfield, N.J., Dec. 21, 1897, is in part as follows:
"You ask in regard to the LaTourrettes of Broome County, N. Y.
Peter LaTourrette, of that family, lived at King's Ferry, Cayuga Co., for a
long time. I was named by him. He had two sons, three daughters. I don't
remember the name of the elder of the three, but she married a canal
boat captain whose name I have forgotten. Mary, the second daughter,
was single when I was there in I 842 or 3, and a younger one whose name I
have forgotten. The two sons, Henry and John, went west to Saint Louis,
or somewhere in Mo. Uncle Peter finally sold out at Kings Ferry and
moved back to Broome County to spend the remainder of his days with
his relatives. . . ."
The writer failed to get information about Ann LaTourette, or of
Abraham Cannon, her first husband, or William DeGroot, her second
husband, other than what is shown above, and later. They lived at Bound
Brook.
4?
Chapter XIII.
PETER LATOURETTE, OF VESTAL, N.Y. (LAST SON OF HENRY, OF
FRESH KILLS), AND ELIZABEH ANDRE VETTE.
This family is well covered by a letter to the writer post-dated, Kings
Ferry, N.Y., Sept. 25, 1897, by Sarah Atwater Goodyear. She lists the
kindred that had settled about the lakes in west-central New York, sc
accurately that her letter and inclosed data will be quite fully copied:
"Lyman E. LaTourette, 2 I 8 E. 48th St., N. Y., City. Dear Cousin: Your
letter, concerning our genealogy, of Sept. 8th was most welcome. The
subject is near my heart, and if only you were here the scraps of informa¬
tion I have gleaned would astonish you.
I am a pretty busy woman just preparing for a week of rest and mental
stimulus too, at Clifton Springs Sanitarium. When I return (D.V.) I'll write
again.
I think you must be the de la Tourettes, into whose family my attorney
at Ithaca, Simeon Smith, Esquire, inter-married. His wife was Sarepta. On
a trip, last year to the Pacific Coast, I went to see some of that family.
I send you some notices of my grand father, Peter de la Tourette,
whom I dearly loved, and who I am sure, loved me too, in his own un¬
demonstrative, but dear way. I think our family line must diverge about
our great-great-grand-father's day.
I remember Uncle David and "Aunt" Hannah de la Tourette's
visits to my grand father, clearly. They were really cousins, though Mamma
always gave them the curtesy title.
For further information about our line, I think W. W. Mercereau, of
Union, who has a family Bible, might give the Susan LaTourette line, or his
bro. LaTourette Mercereau of Binghamton. For Catherine LaTourette's
line, either Duane or Edward Cafferty of Binghampton. For William LaT's,
perhaps his daughter, Miss Ann, of Union, could help and direct, and
these can also help you about the Goodenough's and the Nunda, N.Y.,
Hangerfords, Mary and Elizabeth LaT's descendents.
I have correspondence and the line of the late Rev. James A. M.
LaTourette, U.S. Chap, of the U.S.A. (a Ch urch clergyman), who had been
to the early home of the family in Genoa, Italy, and walked the Via Dellf
43
Torretta and Piazza Della Torretfa, of Rome, named for us hundreds of
years before we were driven info France. Indeed I know nof if Victoria
herself has so hoary a record.
Truly,
Sarah Atwater Goodyear,
King Ferry P. O., Cayuga Co., N.Y."
Inclosed with the above is the following: *
Child ren of Peter de la Tourette, born July I 7, 1 754,
and
Elizabeth Andre Vette, born Mar. 14, I 760.
1 Peter, born Aug. I 0, I 783 died
2 Peter, born Aug. 25, 1784, born Woodbridge, N. Jersey, died
Saturday
3 Catharine, born Sept. 17, 1786
4 Susannah, born Nov. 14, 1788, died Feb. 27, 1877, Thursday.
5 William, born March 17, 1790.
6 Catherine, born Oct. 20, 1792.
7 Elizabeth, born Aug. 29, 1793, died Nov. 9, 1866.
8 Henry, born June 10, 1795.
9 John, born Apr. 26, 1797. Left home; no more heard of him.
10 Mary, born Sept. 18, 1799.
Vestal, my grandfather, Peter, married Ann Ogden Quigley or (Quigli).
Died Vestal, Susannah, married Daniel Mercereau, of Vestal N.Y.
Died Union, William, married Mary or Polly Eldridge of Vestal, N.Y.
Died Vestal, Catherine, married Elias Winans, of Vestal, N. Y.
Died Nunda, Elizabeth, married - - Hangerford, lived in Nunda, Ry.
Died Union, Henry, married Mary or Polly de la Grange, live Vestal.
Died Vestal, I think, Mary, married - Goodenough, lived, Vestal,
Family of my great-great-grand father. (Henry, of Fresh Kills)
Susanna de la Tourette, born Mar. 23d, I 743.
Henry de la Tourette, born Sept. 8th, 1745.
John de la Tourette, born May 3d, I 749.
Ann de la Tourette, born Jany 28, 1751.
44
Peter de la Tourette, born July 17, 1754, died Vestal.
Deceased Jan'y 23d, I 83 I, at fifteen minutes past 10 o'clock in the
forenoon, aged (76) seventy-six years, six months and six days, and was in¬
terred on the 25th.' Copied from Sarah de la Tourette's Bible, Nov. 6th
1795."
My grandfather, Peter, always would spell his name LaTourrette. We
said that was imperfect French form, we would have but one r. Tour -
(tower), ette (small or little). You see it was a clinging to the old Italian
form,, della Torretta, (of the little tower). He is buried at Union N. Y.
Child ren of Elizabeth Andre Vette, de la Tourette,
and Ives Goodyear, died June 23d, 1852.
Married Feb. I 3th, I 839, Geneva Township, Cayuga Co.
1 Sarah Atwater, born March 16th, 1840.
2 Joanna Terviah Ives, born June 17th, 1844, married Edwin
Purdy, Mar. 22, 1870, who died of h eart disease in Nov.,
1881, at Popejoy, Franklin Co., Iowa, their present home.
Two children; Clarissa Lapham, born Jan. 2 I st, 1871, Syca¬
more, Illinois, died June 13th, 1877, at Popejoy, Iowa, of
heart diseast; Elizabeth de la Tourette, born Sept. 27, I 873,
Popejoy, Iowa.
3 Cornelia Anna, born Jan. 3, 1849, died May 12, 1869, after
three days illness, of malignant fever, at Binghampton, N.Y.
Peter de la Tourette, (of the little tower, - or Della Torretta, in the
Italian form), married on August 5th, Anno Domini 1813, Ann Ogden
Quigley (Quigli), of Elizabeth, N. J. Her mother Elisabeth Ogden Quigley,
was a near kinswoman of Gov. Aaron Ogden. Their children were:
Zerviah Ogden, born Oct. 15th, 1814. Married Jonathan Tilton,
who died. Married Samuel Bejamin, who died. She died
Sept. 25th, 1877, of Enig. abscess.
Mary, born June 20th, 1816, died July 12th, 1889.
Elisabeth, born Mar. 22, 1818, married Ives Goodyear, Feb. 13,
I 839 (who died Jan. 23d, I 852). She died Friday, May I 7th,
1895. Pneumonia from grippe.
Henry, born Mar. 2nd, I 820, drowned from Str. Rob't Campbell,
near Sioux City, Apr. 18th, 1863.
45
John, bom Dec. 7th, 1822, married Rosanna Mather, lives in
Phoenix, Arizona.
Joanna Thompson, born Nov. 17th, 1828, died at Union, of
typhoid fever, Sept. 19th, 1856.
Aaron Ogden, bprn - Married and lives at Diamond Springs,
Eldorado Co., California. One child, a daughter, Augusta.
The notices of the 96th birthday of Peter LaTourette, of Vestal,
grandfather of Sarah Atwater Goodyear, are clippings from Binghampton
Leader, N.Y. The former speaks of him as having been born at Wood-
bridge N.J.,and walked to Vestal, N.Y., with his father when yet but a boy.
The latter clipping shows that he died at Vestal, June 23, I 883, 99 years of
age, born at Woodbridge, a long time resident of Cayuga County, later
at Kings Ferry, where he married Anna Quigley, granddaughter of Capt.
Thomas Quigley, of Elisabeth, N.J.; later moved back to Vestal; surviving
sisters were Catherine Winans, aged 92, Susan Mercereau, 88, Mary
Goodyear, 77, and Elisabeth Hungerford, 70. Other information is given
which is covered by the above.
The Sarah referred to on a preceding page as being the second wife
of someone, was undoubtdly Sarah (Lane) Wood, the second wife of
Henry, of Fresh Kills.
Mrs. Goodyear inclosed a note about Rev. James A. M. LaTourrette,
saying that he always spelled the name with two r s and that his
daughters married (two certainly) army officers (U.S.A.), lieu t Romeyn,
Anna's husband . . . and one Cap't. Cavanagh. She is now dead.
In June, 1898, the writer received from Miss Lucie LaTourette, of 15
W. Fourth Street, Bayonne, N.J., a copy of the family line as prepared
by Rev. James A. M. Latourette, above mentioned. The next chapter will
show the "line" as thus given for it furnishes much information though it
neglects to give reference to any records and, in the first two gnerations,
fails to give dates or the names of wives and husbands, and is somewhat
erroneous.
The writer has a letter dated at Medford, Oregon, Dec. 14, 1937,
by John W. LaTourette to Howard Latourette, Portland, Or., concerning
family history and giving a sketch of the genealogy and activities of nis
grandfather, John LaTourette, born Dec. 7, 1822. This John was the son
of Peter and Ann (Quigley) LaTourette, above mentioned, and this Peter
46
was the grand-father of Sarah Atwater Goodyear as above shov/n.
In the sketch, John W. shows that his grand-father, John, was born
Dec. 7, 1822, on the shore of Cayuga Lake, N.Y., his parents being
natives of New Jersey, but spending the most of their lives in western
New York in or near Vestal, where he died; that during boyhood he pur¬
sued his studies in the pioneer district school, so common at the time,
with puncheon floor , slab benches and desks arranged around the wall
(which is the same as the writer experienced near Oregon City, Oregon,
when about six years of age); that when eighteen, he began clerking in a
store at Auburn, N.Y., where he continued until 21(1 844) when he clerked
et various places until I 850. The gold mines of California then attracted
him. He spent a few years there, was married and took his family by ox
team to Rouge River Valley, Oregon, where he farmed for 14 years and
engaged in cattle business at Klamath, Oregon; that he then drove a herd
of I 75 cattle, I 600 miles to Arizona, where he became one of the largest
and most successful cattlemen of the state (Territory, at the time); that his
wife was Rosanna Mathers, a native of Quincy, III.; that they had five
children: Peter, who lived on his father's ranch; James, residing at Phoenix,
Arizona; Mrs. Cornelia Munds, of Jerome; Mrs. Rose Sheridan, of Phoenix;
Mrs. Viola Wells, at home in Phoenix. The above James is apparently
James Thomas LaTourette, of Phoenix, who is given as having married
Cora Catherine Mathers, and having children: Lyman Dalton L.; Vern
Gerald; Rena Cornelia; John Walden; Charlotte Ellen; and Emery
Everett. No dates are here given. The balance of the genealogy is
covered by that given above by Sarah Atwater Goodyear.
Chapter XIV.
LATOURETTE LINE AS GIVEN BY REV. JAMES A. M. LATOURETTE
ABOUT 1882.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, the LaTourettes in America were
located on Staten Island, other parts of New York and in New Jersey.
Thus far these Annals have covered the line of genealogy but briefly. More
will be given in this chapter.
About 1882, Rev. James A. M. LaTourette who was in the ministry
and U.S. Army service as Chaplain, furnished a chart to Miss Lucie La¬
Tourette, of 15 West Fourth Street, Bayonne, N. J., who forwarded it to
the writer. The chart is somewhat difficult to interpret in places, but it
contains much valuable informaton in brief form, although it lacks dates in
the first two generations, and fails to clearly show the line of descent. Here
the line will be stated as interpreted and comments or notes will be stated
in parenthesis, as follows:
Jean LaTourette married Marie Mercereau and they had children,
Marie, Jean, Pierre and Henri (Note that there were others as shown in
Chaptr V.) The daughter, Marie, married . . . Broome, and had a son who
was Lieu't. Gov'r. of New York. The children of Henri were Mrs. DeGroot,
David, Catherine, who married Stephen Bedell, and Elisabeth, who mar¬
ried Johnathan Lewis. (Note that although Mrs. DeGroot was a daughter
of Henri; David, James (Jacques), Catherine and Elizabeth, were child¬
ren of Henri's brother, David, as shown in Chapter VIII, and this is shown
by the will of David, dated Feb. 23, I 764, and probated in New York City,
March 23, 1764. This will makes reference to his sons, James and David,
daughters, Mary and Catherine, wife Catherine, son-in-law, Johnathan
Lewis, and brother Henry.) The Rev. Dr. Bedell, of Philadelphia, was a
descendant of the daughter, Catherine. He married Miss Thurston and a
son of theirs was Bishop Bedell, of Ohio. Another descendant of Catherine
is given as Rev. - - - Bedell, lately of the City of St. Johns, New Brunswick,
British Possession. The above David is given as having a son David, who in
turn had Abraham, John and Catherine. Abraham had a son David, and
Catherine became the wife of Henderson Journeay of Staten Island. Jean,
son of the original Jean, had Jacques, who in turn had Harry, bachelor,
Johnathan, bachelor, Phoebe who married Anthony Stoutenborough, and
Sarah who married - Stout, of New York. (Note that it seems uncertain
whether Catherine, who married Stephen Bedell, and Elizabeth, who be-
48
came the wife of Johnathan Lewis, are intended to be shown as the
children of Henri or of Jean.) James 2d, the son of Jacques, is given as
born in 1759 and died in 1796, married Mary Stoutenborough or Stouten-
burg, and they had children, John born Mch. 2, 1784, died Jan. 1851, no
issue; Anne Crocheron, born July 7, 1786, died Jan. 26, 1864, total 15
children, several died in infancy; James, born Aug. 22, I 794, died May 30,
1841, married Cornelia Ann Gale; Elisabeth, born Feb. 3, 1872, died
Oct. 17, 1884, married Abm. Journeauy; Stephen, born Sept. I, 1788,
died Aug. 1846, no issue; William, born April 2, 1796, died about 1824,
no issue; Mary, born Oct. I 7, I 790, died I 872, no issue; Annie, born I 792,
died 1845, no issue. Anne Crocheron is given as having children; John,
Dec. 1841, no issue, age 25; James, Dec. I 844, no issue, age 26; Mary died
I 854, married Edwin R. Bennett and had son, David LaT. Bennet, at age of
24, married April, 1873, to - Berry, daughter of President of Trades¬
man's Bank, N.Y., and had two children in 1879; William, born 1819, un¬
married; Catherine, born 1828, (Note that this Catherine may be in¬
tended as the daughter of James who married Cornelia Ann Gale, in place
of a daughter of Ann Crocheron); Joanna died I 865, married Thos. Evans,
two children, Elisabeth, about 45, unmarried; David, Dec. 1865, aged 39;
Stephen, about Dec. I 844 aged I 3; Richard aged about 49. (Note that a
line is drawn from James who married Cornelia Ann Gale to a group as
follows): Lucinda Dau, of Elis. & Abm. Journeay, married Tristian Allen &
Emigrated to Hesper, Iowa, eight children and about 40 grandchildren,
Albert, unmarried, Jane, Wm., Ann, married Winant and had Cornelia,
married James Moore, 4 or 5 children, and Martha, James, Albert and
May set out as brothers and sisters of Cornelia. Albert, Jane, William and
Ann, are also set out as brothers and sisters of Lucinda.
(Note another line extending from James who married Cornelia Ann
Gale to a group as follows:) David, died in infancy, Rev. Jas. A. M. La-
Tourette, married Annie M. Annesley, Joshua, died Apr. 20, 1832, aged 4
years. Rev. James A. M. and Annie M. Annesley are given as having
children: Cornelia, 1st child, Rutgers, married Lieut. Harry G. Cavanagh,
U.S.A., Annie, 2nd child, married Lieut. Henry Romeyn, U.S.A., 3rd child
born Feb. 3, 1856, James Freeland, La., unmarried. Cornelia Rutgers is
shown as having Harry LaT. Cavanagh, born Ft. Douglas, Salt Lake City,
Jan. 8, 1872. Wm. Annesley Cavanagh (born Ft. Lyon, Colorado) Feb. 28,
1874, and Mary Bates Cavenagh, born at Ft. Union,, New Mex., Aug. 20,
1880. The last date given in the chart is 1882, which is probably the year
in which it was written.
49
\
At the end a N.B. is added by L. LaTourette, that The Rev. James A.
M. LaT., died in 1891.
The above fails to show how Richard LaTourette and his sister of the
big brick house on Izzard Hill, Staten Island, came into the family. It
would seem that Crocheron whom Anne married probably had a daughter
who in turn married a LaTourette, . . . and this is more definitely shown
hereafter. The facts above and to follow definitely establish a lineage of
both Rev. James A. M. LaTourette and of Richard C. LaTourette, and, if
closely studied, will go far toward disclosing the lineage of all in America
who are descended from Jean LaTourette and Marie Mercereau, Hugue¬
not refugees from France. The line of descent of Rev. James A. M„ is as
follows:
1 Jean LaTourette, born in France at Osse, in Bearn, near Pyre¬
nees, about 1651, married in France to Marie Mercereau,
of Moise, St. Onge, born about 1665, marriage about
1684, fled to America about 1685; marriage in France
legalized under English law in New York City in 1693.
2 David, third son of above, born Staten Island, Dec. 28, 1699
or 1700, married Catherine Poilon, died about March 20,
1764.
3 James I st, born I 732, died I 785 or I 786, married Mary Lewis.
4 James 2nd, born 1759, died 1796, married Mary Stouten-
borough.
5 James 3rd, born 1794, died 1841, married Cornelia Ann Gale.
6 Rev. James A. M. LaTourette, born 18—, died 1891.
The above Robert Crocheron LaTourette has the same line to James 2nd.
4 James 2nd, above, married Mary S. (see above).
5 Ann, d aughter of James 2nd, born July 7, I 786, died Jan. 26,
1864, married David Crocheron.
6 Ann Crocheron, daughter of above, born - -, married David (or
John) LaTourette.
7 Richard Crocheron LaTourette, son of above, born about I 873,
visited by the writer at the big brick house on the hill (Mt.
Izzard), above St. Andrews Church, at Richmond, Staten
Island.
In order to supply more information about the first three generations
the writer will here insert extracts from the notes taken by him when in
50
New York City, Staten Island, and New Jersey, in 1897-1899.
The Record of St. Andrews Church, Richmond, Staten Island, showed
Christenings, (p. 5) June 12, 1756, James Lattoret, son of James and
Elisabeth, born May 22, 1754; June 13, 1756, David Lattoret, son of
James and Elizabeth, born April 26, 1756; (p. I I) Sept. 17, 1758; Sarah
Lattoret, daughter of James and Elisabeth, born Aug. 4, I 758, (p. 13)...
I 759; Mary Lattourate, daughter of John and Susannah, born July 13,
1759; (p. 17) Sarah Lateret, daughter of James and Elizabeth, born July
I, 1761; (p. 25) Sept. 21, 1764, John Lautoret, son of John and Susana,
born Sept. 21,1 764; (p. 27) Jan 20, I 765, John, son of James and Elezebet
Laworet, born Dec. 11,1 764; (p. 30) March I 6, I 766, Johnathan Lawtoret,
son of James Lawtoret and Elezebet, born Jan. 31, 1766; (p. 33) Feb. I,
1767, Catrin, daughter of David . . . and Elezebeth Lawtorett, was born
Nov. 9, 1766; (p. 38) Oct. 16, 1768, Elezebeth, daughter of James and
Elezebeth, was born Sept. 9, I 768; (p. 45) April 31, 1771, Catrin, daugh¬
ter of James and Elezebeth was born Jan 28, 1771; (p. 45) April 21, 1771,
Elesabeth, daughter of David and Elesabeth Lawtoret, was born Nov. i 6,
1770; (p. 45) June 13, 1773 , Frances, daughter of David and Elesebeth,
was born April 12, 1773; (p. 56) July 9, 1775, Henry, son of James and
Elesebet Lautoret, was born April 22, 1775; (p. 69) March 26, 1787, David
son of James and Mary Latuvet, was born July 7, 1786; (p. 77) Oct. 24,
1790, Susanah, daughter of John and Susanah Latourrette, was born . . .
(no date given);Marriages: (p. 152) Stephen Bedell and Catren Latorett,
May 25, 1766. Born Sept. 24, 1809, Susannah to David and Phoebe
Latorette. Funeral Nov. 21, 1809, David Latourette, Senior.
Published Records in the off ice of the Huguenot Society, New York
City, Items of Ancestry by a Descendent, I.M.R.: On pages 57 and 58 it
is stated Wm. De Groot was baptized July 26, 1751, married Dec. 30,
1780, to Ann LaTourette, baptized Jan. 28, 1751, a daughter of Henry
and Susannah LaTourette, of Fresh Kills, S.I., grand-daughter of Jean and
Marie (Mercereau) LaTourette, and great-grand-daughter of Jean and
Marie (Mercereau) LaTourette, Huguenot refugees; David (son of Jean
I 69-) married Catherine, daughter of Jacques Poilon, a Justice of Peace
of Staten Island in 1689. David and Pierre were members of the French
Church, Staten Island, in 1735."
51
(The records now available as above shown, make it clear that the
above writer was in error in referring to William De Sroot's wife, Ann,
daughter of Henry, of Fresh Kills, as a great-grand-daughter of Jean, the
refugee, for her father was a son of this Jean, as clearly shown above.)
In New York Genealogical and Biographical Records, Vol. 27, p. 196,
it is stated that Paul Mercereau, in his will, mentions his cousin, Mary
LaTourette, daughter of his sister Mary, deceased, and his cousin John
LaTourette; that Henry LaTourette witnessed the will, and it was proved
Dec. 10, 1777 (N.Y. Wills, Vol. 30, p. 394). On page 195, vol. 27, of said
G. & B. Records, it is stated that Marie Mercereau married John LaTour¬
ette July 16, 1693; Joshua Mercereau married Marie Chadrayne on the
same date; that the children of the latter were Marie, baptized May 16,
1695, Joshua, born May 18, 1696, Paul and David, and that Daniel Mer¬
cereau, brother of the above Joshua, married Susanne Marie Doucient
and had children, Daniel, baptized Aug. 8, 1695, Susanne Marie, born
July 8, 1697, and Mariamme, born Oct. 31 1699, who married Pierre La¬
Tourette. At page I 8, Vol. 28, of the above Record, it is stated that Joshua
Mercereau (grand-son either of Joshua or Daniel who came to America)
was baptized Feb. 28, 1731; married Esther . . . and died in Jan., I 785, and
that they had children, John, David, Abigail who married . . . LaTourette,
and Mary.
Bayles' History of Richmond County, N.Y., pp. 370, 381 and 391,
gives the birth date, father and mother of several LaTourettes, as follows:
Mary, Feb. 26, 1758, Nicholas Backer and Liesabet Latoret.
Daniel, March 3, I 728, Pierre LaTourette and Mariamme Mercereaux.
Marie Susanne, March 24, 1734, Pierre LaTourette and Mariamme
Mercereaux.
Elisabeth, April 26, 1736, Pierre LaTourette and Mariamme Mer¬
cereaux.
Jaques, March 19, 1732, David LaTourette and Catherine Poilan.
Marie, Sept. I, 1734, ditto.
David, April 24, 1726, Jean LaTourette and Marie Mercereaux.
Marie, Sept. 8, 1728 ditto.
Henricus, Jan. 24, 1731, ditto
Jan & Susanna, twins, May 25, 1729, Jan Van Pelt, Anthony's son,
and Susanne LaTourette.
Anthony, April 15, 1733, ditto.
Joost, April 4, 1736, ditto.
52
Bayles does not designate the Church, or other record, from
which the above information was obtained. Presumably it was from church
records where the parents were communicants. Evidently the parents of
the above were of the first generation, and the parents of the children
listed from St. Andrews Church, are from the second generation. Bayles,
however, gives additional information that the records of the Dutch
Ch urch at Port Richmond show that Henricus, son of Jean LaTourette
and Marie Mersereaux was baptized Jan 24, I 730, and adds that this was
probably the same Henricus as the above with an error in the year. The
above Abigal who married . . . LaTourette is manifestly the one who
married Peter LaTourette (b. I 742) as shown in Chapter VI above. In order
to check on dates and names one must know about the churches and
places on Staten Island. Clute, in his History of Richmond County (p. 254
et seq.) shows that the Reformed Church was at Port Richmond (north part
of the island), beginning in 1660 with Rev. Sam. Drisius, who preached
once a month to the French Vandois (Waldenses) who later blended with
the Dutch and formed the Reformed Dutch Church; that the first church
building was erected in 1665 at Stony Brook, south of Black Horse Corner
along the Amboy Road, and nothing but the foundation remained when
Clute wrote; that in 1683 a Huguenot Church was built near Fresh Kills
(Seaman's farm when Clute wrote) and preaching was in French by Rev.
Pierre Daile, who came to America in 1683 and resided in New York City;
that in 1697 the Huguenots secured David Bonrepaz, as pastor, and he
remained until 1717; that in 1717 these churches united and built in Rich¬
mond opposite the Court House, Rev. C. Van Santvoort becoming pastor
and continuing until 1740; that this was called The Reformed Dutch
Church at Richmond; that in 1769 this church was combined with the
Presbyterians of Stony Brook and built a church where the Reformed
Church stood in Clute s time; that this church was destroyed during the
Revolution, as also was the church at North Side (or Shore) called the Re¬
formed Protestant Dutch Church, rebuilt in 1787 on the old site, Rev.
Peter Stryker, minister. The church that Jean helped to build on the
Bellville one-half acre along Fresh Kills was destroyed by the Hessians dur¬
ing the Revolution, and the churchyard grave-stones. No doubt this
church and grave-yard had the record of Jean and Marie's family, after
1698, and the record in good part of Henry and Sarah's family. The
writer, when there in 1897 and 1898 was unable to get the data except
through wills, and other public records.
Bayles further states, in said history, p. 550, that Jean L. was a
53
French Huguenot; that it was not known when he came to America; that
Jean (his son) and Maria Mersereau had children baptized, David, April 24,
I 726, Anthony, Jan. 24, I 730, and Henry, Jan. 24, 1731; that P ierre LaT.
and Mariamme Mersereaux had Daniel, baptized March 3, 1728, and
twins, David and Jacques, baptized March I 9, I 732; that James (probably
one of the Jaques above) and Elisabeth had John, born Dec. I I, 1764,
Johnathan, born Jan. 31, 1766, and Henry, born April 22, 1775.
The will of David LaTourette, of Westfield, dated Feb. 9, 1799, pro¬
bated Dec. 6, 1808, mentions his wife, Mary, grand-children, David, Ann,
and James Hart, son John, and daughters, Elizabeth LaForge and
Polly Britten, and his son John's three children, David, Elisabeth and
Susanna.
The tombstones in St. Andrews, Richmond, churchyard show: John
LaTourette, son of David LaT., Esq., born Dec. I I, 1764, died April 18,
1810, aged 46 years, 4 months, 7 days; Mary, wife of John LaTourette,
born Dec. I I, 1786, died Feb. 7, 1856; David LaTourette, Esq., born 1729,
died Nov. 19, 1808, aged 69 years and 10 months; Stephen Mersereau,
died April 17, 1852, aged 82 years, I I months, 13 days; Peter M ersereau
died 1803, 62 years old; Daniel Mersereau died 1855, 84 years old; Will¬
iam Mersereau died 1811, 97 years old; John Mersereau died 1811, 73
years old; Richard Mersereau died 1802, 63 years old; James LaTourette,
of Centerport, Ala., a native of Staten Island, died Nov. 4, 1844, aged 27
years, I month, 3 days; Elizabeth, widow of John, died July 9, 1847, aged
85 years; Paul LaTourette died Nov. 5, 1872, aged 81 years, I I months, 12
days; Mary Zeluff, widow of Paul LaTourette, died March 15, 1878, aged
84 years, I I months, 24 days; Mary, daughter of Paul and Mary LaTour¬
ette, died Jan 18. 1847, aged 18 years, 9 months, 19 days; William De
Groot died May 4, 1837, aged 40 years, 8 months, 9 days.
The Woodrow Churchyard, Staten Island, showed the following:
Susan LaTourette, daughter of David and Phoebe LaTourette, died Aug¬
ust 22, 1854, aged 44 years, 10 months, 7 days; David LaTourette died
Oct. 6, I860, aged 73 years, 4 months, 15 days; John P. Winant, born
March 17, 1818, died Aug. 30, 1896; his wife, Elizabeth Ann LaTourette,
born Sept. 3, I 826, died Oct. 29, I 879 (the above four are in the lot of D.
LaTourette — J. P. Winant). Two soldiers, sons of Eliza and Abram LaTour-
54
ette, David, born April 20, 1842, died Sept. 19, 1864, and William, born
Sept. 26, 1846, died June 15, 1 865; James LaTourette died Oct. 3, 1796,
at 42 years of age; Ann LaTourette, daughter of James and Mary La¬
Tourette, died July 31, 1806, age 13 years, I I months, 22 days; Mary,
wife of James LaTourette, died Oct. 3, 1844, in her 81st year; Elisabeth
LaTourette, wife of Abram Journeay, died Oct. 18, 1864, aged 82 years,
7 months, I 3 days; Abram Journeay died April 15, I 8 I 9, aged 40 years, 19
days; James LaTourette died May 30, 1841, in the 17th year of his age;
William S. LaTourette died at Cathawba, Ala., Sept. 25, I 82 I , in his 26th
year, and was removed to this burying place of his father.
Clute's History of Richmond County, at page 400, gives the same
information as that given by Bayles, and stated above, and additional
data that James LaTourette, probably one of the Jacques previously
mentioned, and Elisabeth, his wife, had a son, John, born Dec. I I, 1764
a son, Johnathan, born Jan. 31, 1766, and Henry, born April 22, 1775;
that David LaTourette and Elisabeth, had a daughter, Catherine, born
Nov. 9, 1766; that John LaTourette and Susan had a son, John, born Sept.
30, 1764, and that James LaTourette and Mary had a son, David, born
July 7, 1786; that David LaTourette and Phoebe Cole were married Nov.
1 2, I 808; that Henry LaTourette was supervisor of Northfield in I 767 (pp.
172 & 173), that Peter LaTourette had a wife, Susanna Cole, and they
had a son, Henry, born Feb. 6, 1765 (p.356); that Peter LaTourette married
Elisabeth Androvette before 1792 (p. 340); that the Mercereaus came
over in 1685, being three brothers and two sisters and mother; that one
brother married a LaTourette, and died in 1756, being 93 years of age (p.
308); that John Prall married Martha LaTourette Jan. 14, 1802 (p. 419);
that John Van Pelt married Susanna LaTourette, and they had twin
children born in 1729 (p. 432).
In Vol. 97, page 26, New York Historical Manuscripts (examined by
the writer in I 897) there is a letter dated Feb. 18, I 77 I , by Henry LaTour¬
ette to Benjamin Seaman, member of the State Legislative Assembly, ask¬
ing for the appointment of a Coroner in his place for Richmond County.
(See also p. 792, Calendar of New York Historical Manuscripts).
In 1898 the writer interviewed Abraham LaTourette, who resided
at Tottenville, located at the south end of Staten Island. He gave informa¬
tion that his father was Abraham, and his grand-father was David, his
great-grand-father was John, and his great-great-grand-father was David.
55
He had a copy of a will which he mentioned as that of his great-great-
grand-father David. It was apparently a copy of the will mentioned above
of David LaTourette, of Westfield, probated Dec. 6, I 808. The writer took
notes from the copy which the speaker produced. It was dated in 1799,
gives his wife, Mary, 200 pounds and the interest for life on 200 pounds ad¬
ditional, the principal to go, after her death, to his three grandchildren,
David, Ann and James Hart; gives a Negro wench to his wife; gives his
gun, pistols, clock and Negro named Jack, to his son John; gives spoons,
etc., to his son John and grand-son, David Hart; 100 pounds to his
daughter, Polly Britan, and 40 pounds to each of John's three children,
David, Elisabeth and Susanna.
Abraham, the speaker, said that his father was buried at Bethel, and
his mother at Woodrow cemeteries, and some of ancestors in Richmond
Church-yard. He produced an old family Bible which he said had been
his grand-father David's. Notes from it by the writer show: Grand-mother
Phoebe Cole LaTourette born - 30, 17 - (The blanks are where the writing
was torn off or obliterated by age).
Aunt Susan LaTourette, born Oct. 18, 1809.
Father Abraham LaTourette, born June 29, 1811.
Abigail LaTourette, born March 25, 1813.
John LaTourette, born May 1 , 1818.
Elizabeth Ann LaTourette, born Sept. I 3, I 826.
Father died Oct. I 883.
Uncle John died Oct. I 870.
Aunt Abbie died Nov. 1 897.
Aunt Susan died young, not married.
Aunt Emeline, died - - -.
Brothers and sister (apparently children of father Abraham):
Abigail, born about 1883, married a Le Forge.
Phoebe Ann, born Mch. 21,1 838, married Peter Prior.
Elsie, born 1840, married a Le Forge (brother of above).
David, born April 20, I 842, went to war, died in Atlanta, Ga.
Mamie, born Nov. 6, 1844, married DeBordis.
William, born Sept. 1846, died in army, buried in Woodrow
Churchy'd.
Abraham, born Nov. 25, 1851 (the speaker).
James, born March 21, 1855.
56
Abraham (the speaker related that Phoebe and Mamie lived in
Tottenville; James and Elsie at Princeton Bay; that his grand-father's
place was at LaTourette Pond, sold the place in 1861 (Aspinwall) and died
soon after, 64 years old; that Judge Stephens, of Richmond, was a
descendent of the family; that David was the speaker's great-grand¬
father or great-great-grand-father, and grand-father was also David; that
great-grand-father had three children, David, John and a daughter who
married a Johnson, Judge Stephen's grand-mother; that grand-father
David had two boys and four girls; that father Abraham married Elisabeth
Manee, Susan never married, died when 20. Abagail married Henderson
Wynant, John married Elsie Manee, a sister of Elisabeth Manee, Eliza Ann
married John Wynant (see grave stones in Reformed Dutch Church-yard
at Port Richmond), and Emeline married Abraham, a brother of Elizabeth's
husband, and he thought that his great-grand-father married Susan
Furge (perhaps LaFurge or Forge), and that his grand-mother was a Cole.
Th e line of descent of Abraham of Tottenville, the speaker, would
seem to be through David, born 1700, who married Catherine Poilan, and
was a son of Jean, the refugee. This is indicated by the copy of will which
he produced and which is like the one of the above David of which memor¬
anda were taken and shown above; by the fact that the will mentions his
widow, Mary, which was the name (Marie Simonsin) of David's second wife;
by the references to Phoebe Cole; by the use of first names for children
mostly common in other cases, by the grave stones, etc. Abraham's line of
descent was probably thus:
1 Jean, the refugee.
2 Da vid, born 1700, married Catherine Poilon.
3 David, born 1739, who married 2nd, Marie Simonson.
4 John, whose record does not appear, perhaps born about 1760.
5 David, born 1787, who married Phoebe Cole.
6 Abraham, born 1811, father of the speaker, and
7 Abraham of Tottenville, who had the old Bible.
In 1897, the writer interviewed Paul LaTourette of Summerville,
Staten Island, and took notes as follows: He knows of a Paul LaTourette, in
Bayonne, N.J., 90 years old, who is a cousin. The speaker's grandfather
was John and great-grand-father, William; his father was Paul, who for
57
50 years was a member of the Reformed Church at Port Richmond. He
said his grand-father John's children were Paul, father of the speaker,
William, John, Ann (married Sam Lauson), and Elizabeth (married a Van
Clief), and his (the speaker's) father had children Solomon, John, Peter,
Paul, Henry, Elisabeth, Sarah, Alley (Alice), Catherine, Mary, Margaret,
and Ann; the family of the speaker was Paul, Lorenzo, Christopher, Jane,
and two children who died young.
John LaTourette, brother of the above Paul, and residing near him,
was also interviewed. He had an old family Bible from which the writer
copied the following:
Elizabeth Lattourette was married to John Van Clief (or Cleaf)
June I 5, I 830.
Soloman Lattourette was married to Jane Van Pelt, Oct. 20,
1833.
John Lattourette was married to Nancy Lee the I I April, 1837.
Cathe rine Lattourette was married to John Sharet July I , I 843.
Ann Lattourette married Daniel J. Barcalow Oct. 14, 1847.
Sarah Lattourette married Adam Crance June 27, 1837.
Paul Lattourette married Jane R. Sines (or Lines) July 20, 1851.
\
Births:
John and Elizabeth Lattourette son Paul born Nov. 28, 1790.
Soloman and Alle Zeluff, daughter Mary born March 21, 1793.
Paul and Mary Lattourette, daughter Elizabeth born Feb. 18,
1812.
Paul and Mary Lattourette, son Soloman born Nov. 7, 1813.
Paul and Mary Lattourette, son John born Jan. 18, 1816, also
Sary born April 9, 1818.
Abbe born April 19, 1820.
Peter born July 9, 1822.
Catherine born May 27, 1824.
Mary born March 29, I 828
Paul born Aug. 11,1 830.
Ann born Oct. 12, 1832.
Margaret Tyson Jan. 2, 1835, and
Henry born Feb. 6, 1839.
Deaths:
Alle Lattourette died May 8, I 836.
58
Margaret F. Lattourette died April 29, I 84 1 .
Henry Lattourette died May 21, 1841.
Catharine Sharret died May 2, 1846.
Mary Lattourette died Jan 18, 1847.
Paul Lattourette, Sen., died Nov. 5, 1872, aged 81 years.
I I months, 8 days.
Mary, wife of Paul, Sen., died March 15, 1878, aged 84
year, I I months, 24 days.
Family Records of John and Elizabeth Lattourette:
Elizabeth Lattourette born April 26, 1783,
John Lattourette born Oct. 6, I 785,
Mary Lattourette born Oct. 31, 1788.
Paul Lattourette born Nov. 28, I 790
William Lattourette born Nov. I, 1792,
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Lattourette Feb. 26, 1796,
Ann Lattourette born April 24, I 799,
Susannah Lattourette Aug. 26, 1801,
Jane Lattourette born Nov. 27, 1807.
John Lattourette, the father of this family, was born, as near as
possible to compare dates, 1762 (1732) supposed to be
94 years old when he died.
John Lattourette, who had the above Bible, said that Aunt Susie
sal ter was very old, (may have come from France); was grand-father's
sister; that Dave, the sea captain, went back to France to try to get the
estate; that there was an old Family Bible when they came from France-
that a LaTourette, of Yonkers, was trying to trace the genealogy to join
e Descendants of the Huguenots; that the LaTourettes at Bergen Point
should have records.
. The lmea9e of ^e above brothers, Paul and John, is difficult to fix
with certainty. The writer thinks it was as follows:
1 Jean, the refugee.
2 John, born 1795, married Marie Mercereau.
3 David, born I 726, oldest child of above John.
4 William, born perhaps about I 747.
5 John, born about I 770.
6 Paul, born 1791, father of Paul, with whom the writer conferred.
Some of the facts which point to this conclusion are that the
59
childrens' names are common in the above line, that the name Christopher,
given to one of Paul's sons, probably came from Susanna Christopher, who
was the wife of John, who was a brother of David, born in 1726, who was
probably the "Sea Captain" referred to as going to France to prove
heirship to the refugee; that they lived for many years at or about Mari¬
ners Harbor where David's father went after leaving the home place along
Fresh Kills, where his father Jean, the refugee, built the stone house and
owned 75 acres or more. This branch of the LaTourettes, like the Mer-
sereaus, prospered as the Port of New York prospered, as it did greatly
both before and after the Revolutionary War, and some of the LaTour¬
ettes became well-to-do or wealthy, as did the Mersereaus. They all lived
at a strategic place, for Mariners Harbor is within a mile of Port Rich¬
mond; Bergen point is across Kill Von Kull which is only >/2 to I mile wide;
Richmond, the County Seat of Richmond County, (which is co-terminus
with Staten Island), is along the upper reaches of Fresh Kills which has its
outlet into Arthur Kill, which is for the most part about the same width as
Kill Von Kull and extends along the entire westerly side of Staten Island.
Tottenville is at the extreme south end of the Island. Richmond is about 7
air-miles southerly from Mariners Harbor, and Tottenville is about 9 miles
southerly from Richmond. All of these places, as well as Woodbridge,
Elizabeth, Bergen Point, Bayonne, Newark, Jersey City and New York
City were in easy reach of each other by water transportation before the
days of railways, as well as afterwards. Port Richmond (perhaps a mile
from Mariners Harbor) is where the Reformed Church was located. Some
of the Latourettes were communicants of this church and were buried in
its churchyard. Other data, which will be given below, tends to show that
the above Paul and his brother, John, were members of the LaTourette
family, with lineage as above indicated.
In 1897, the writer visited the Dutch Reformed Churchyard at Port
Richmond, and took notes from some of the grave-stones as follows:
Susana La Tourrette died March 6, 1813, 82 years of age.
John LaTourrette died Feb. 21, I 839, 44 years of age.
pefer LaTourrette died Oct. 26, 1824, 38 years of age.
David LaTourrette, Sr., died Sept. 24, 1834, 72 years of age.
Mary LaTourrette died May 31,1 855, aged 83 years, 4 months.
Elizabeth, widow of John LaTourrette, June 9, 1847, age 85.
Paul LaTourrette died Nov. 5, 1872, aged 81 years, I I months, 12
days.
60
Mary Zeluff, widow of Paul LaTourrette, died March 15, 1878,
aged 84 years, I I months, 24 days.
Mary, daughter of Paul andMary LaTourrette, died Jan. 18, 1847,
aged I 8 years, 9 months, I 9 days.
John Alfred, son of Soloman and Hannah Jane LaTourrette, died
Jan. 28, 1837, aged 2 years, I month, 17 days.
Alice, daughter of Paul and Mary LaTourrette, died May I 8, I 836,
aged I 6 years, I 8 days.
William De Groot died May 4, 1837, aged 40 years, 8 months, 9
days.
In I 898 the writer visited Richard C. LaTourrette and his sister, Eliza¬
beth, who were in a large brick house on the hill above the Methodist
Church at Richmond, Staten Island. She said that the farm where the house
was located, had been given her by her mother who was a Crocheron. Her
brother, Richard C. LaTourrette, said that he lived on Long Island; that
he did not remember the names of his grandparents; that his father had
been dead abouT 25 years; that his mother was Ann Crocheron (maiden
name); that they had a large family, but all were dead except himself
and sister with whom he was at the time the writer visited the premises;
that his father lived east of Richmond, but sold his place there when
Crocheron gave the place on the hill to their mother; that his father,
mother and their children, who were deceased, were all interred in the
vault in the churchyard at Richmond; that his grandparents were buried
in the Woodrow Methodist Churchyard; that the family tradition was,
as he understood it, that two brothers came from France and settled or
Staten Island; that Kate LaTourette Mars, married a broker, lived at Irv¬
ington, N.Y., and had collected genealogical records; that he, the
speaker, would be 65 years old in January; that his father died about I 872,
being 78 years, 6 months old.
The writer has a clipping from the New York Sun, Dec. I , I 898, show¬
ing that Mrs. Jane C. LaTourette, who occupied one of the handsomest
residences in Amityville, was arrested on a charge of contempt of court
in that she had been sued by her husband, Richard C. LaTourette, to re¬
cover property valued at $20,000.00, which his wife had induced him to
make over to her at a time, as he alleged, when she had him so much under
the influence of an opeate that he did not know what he was doing, and it
seems that the court had ordered a refund, which she had neglected to
61
make. The clipping shows that, at the time of arrest, she claimed she was
the graduate of an electropathic college in Philadelphia and at times ad¬
ministered one grain of morphea to relieve her husband of rheumatic pain,
and that she was (at the time of arrest) on her way to make compliance
with the court order, but, as the clipping relates, the Sheriff's Deputy who
made the arrest, arranged for a meeting with the attorneys representing
the parties, and, at the time of the meeting Mrs. L. had changed her
mind and refused to make the property over to her husband. The writer
never learned of the final outcome of the case.
Matter supplementary to the above has been presented by Mrs.
Katherine Young, 611 E. Pike Street, Crawfordsville, Ind. It is in part as
follows:
"(Anthon Notes), Proceedings S.I.I. of Arts and Science, Vol. 5, parts
2-4, p. 74: Capt. Blake spoke of the LaTourettes. He said they were of a
noble French family bearing the title of Marquis, and zealous Huguenots.
During the Dragonades, their lives were at stake while the search for
Bibles was being carried on. They left their kettle boiling, seized their
Bible and ran to the coast. They went first to England, and then came to
this country, bringing their Bible with them. A Frenchman afterwards came
over here for it in order to prove some family descent. John LaTourette,
the brother of the one who occupied the large brick house near Richmond,
is a great map publisher of the South."
Apparently "S.I.I." is the Staten Island Institute. The writer has not
previously read or heard of a "kettle boiling" in order to conceal flight.
Elsewhere a banquet has been mentioned. The reference "to the one who
occupied the large brick house near Richmond" is to Richard C.
LaTourette who has been mentioned, at some length, above. The large
brick house is where the writer called on him and his sister in 1898. The
stone house that Jean and Marie LaTourette built after moving from New
York City, was below and a little south of this brick house and near Fresh
Kills and the French Church, perhaps 1 1/2 miles from the Court House at
Richmond. Further information about the brick house, and its occupants,
is given as follows in the notes submitted by Mrs. Young:
"Richard Crocheron LaTourette, last surviving member of one of
the oldest families on Staten Island, died at his home in Richmond (about
1910) in his 81st year. He was born on S.l. and was unmarried. Five days
ago his sister, Jane LaTourette, died at the old homestead, in her 73rd
year. They were the children of David LaTourette and Ann Crocheron
62
LaTourette. Mr. LaTourette will be buried beside his sister in the historic
St. Andrews churchyard at the foot of the hill on which the home stood.
(Another sister, Elizabeth LaTourette, died first.)"
The reference to Richard as being unmarried is apparently an error,
for it has been shown that he had been married, though unfortunately.
The above is apparently a newspaper article, as is another which is with the
same notes and reads as follows:
"LaTourrett Homestead Sold: Mansion to be occupied by late Bishop
Potter's Daughter. (About 1911). Mrs. Lewis T. Baxter, of Nashville, Tenn.,
has sold to Mrs. Clara Sidney Taylor, a daughter of the late Bishop Potter,
the historic LaTourette homestead on Richmond Hill overlooking the
village of Richmond. This is one of the last remaining old Huguenot homes
on S.l. The mansion commands a magnificent view of the surrounding
country. Across the Richmond Hill, on the bluff overlooking the Fresh
Kills, are still the old rifle pits which were placed there for the purpose of
preventing the freguent raids made by the Continental troops who were
stationed on the Jersey shore. The property will be occupied by Mrs.
Taylor as a private residence. Her husband, H. T. Taylor, was an artist and
the place was a colony for the painters to gather, around 1913, having
studios in picturesque out-buildings. They presented notable exhibits at
the Richmond County Fair (Aug. 1913). It was sold to New York City in
1927. LaTourette awards were paid Sept. 22, I 928. The sum of $ I , I 37,457
was paid by the City for the land at LaTourette Park, according to an item
in the City Record. Golf Links were later laid out."
Other notes, submitted by Mrs. Young, include the following:
John LaTourette, the brother of the one who occupied the large
brick house near Richmond, is a great map publisher of the South .
He made a family tree . Proceedings of S.l.l. of A & S, Anthon's Notes,
(p. I 33): John and Peter lived at Fresh Kills. They were great patriots, and
when the British came, went to New Jersey. — Sixth Edition, Huguenot An¬
cestors, by Jackson, 1938, p. 14, LaTourette (de la) Oisse-en-Bearn, New
Amsterdam members, of LaTourette descent. . . .
French Church, N. Y., J. F. Maynard, p. 108, 'In 1694, Jean LaTour¬
ette, a carpenter, earned 5 shillings, 3 pents for having done the floor of
the temple and provided iron work.'
At Metropolitan Museum of Arts, portraits of Henry LaTourette de
Groot, by Samuel Lovett Waldo ( I 783- 1861), Miss Adelaid de Groot, life
63
member, Staten Island Historical Society, grand-daughter. Painting of Old
LaTourette Homestead, Richmond Hill, by Frost, owned by Mrs. Tom
Tanet, of Dangan Hills. Arbutus Lake was formerly 'LaTourette Pond'
(Root's Map). Sampton Baptist Cemetery inscriptions (Pescataway Town¬
ship, Middlesex County, N.J., 2^/2 no iles south of Plainfield): John LaTour¬
ette, died Feb. 22, 1813, 62 years; Ruth LaTourette, daughter, Daniel &
Margaret Blackford, and widow of above, died Feb. 10, 1820, age 67.
(Orra E. Monette, Old Settlers of W.&P.)
Here the writer of these annals digresses to mention the fact that the
above John LaTourette was his great-grandfather, and Ruth Blackford was
a second wife, Step-great-grandmother of the writer. This John's father
was Henry LaTourette, of Fresh Kills, who was next to the youngest son
of Jean and Marie LaTourette, the French refugees.
Valentine's Manuel of New York, 1862, (p. 75), article, "The Hugue¬
not Settlers of New York and Vicinity," states that Henri LaTourette fled
from La Vendee, and gives an account similar to that by Rev. James A. M.
L., who is here referred to as James Annover Moore L. A letter dated Feb.
28, I 943, by Mrs. Romayn, a grand-daughter of the Rev. James A. M., who
states that there is a tablet to the LaTourette name in the Huguenot
Church, Charleston, S. C., and that she had sent to the Huguenot Society,
a copy of her grandfather's family Bible record. This was to Miss Dale, of
the Staten Island Historical Society. Other letters by Mrs. Romayn, to
Miss Dale, give much information about the descendents of Rev. James
A. M., and much data of a historical nature, all of which was apparently
sent to the Historical Society where it will presumably be available, if
needed. She indicated also that she was bringing to date his family
diagram, and that a Professor LaTourette, at Princeton, was writing a
history of the family. She also refers to Benj. F. Thompson s History of
Long Island".
Mrs. Katherine Young's notes mentions a recent book, "Staten
Island ,1524-1898), by Henry G. Steinmeyer, and articles, "The LaTour¬
ette Family," by William M. LaTourette and Lawrence LaTourette Driggs,
published in "Proceedings of Staten Island Society of Arts and Science or
Staten Island Historical Society," also a booklet, "History, Story, Legend,
of the Old King's Highway, now Richmond Road" giving maps and de¬
scriptions of historic places on Staten Island. She inclosed a copy (I sheet)
of "The LaTourette Family", third generation, (fifth installment), and
stated that Miss Dorothy Taylor, I 59 Halstead St., E. Orange, N.J., had
64
the above and much other data. With another letter, dated Jan. 3, 1850,
she sent a photograph taken by William Mercereau, May 4th, I 889, show¬
ing the Old Stone House (the one described above, built by Jean and
Marie, the refugees, after they moved to Staten Island from New York
City, about I 698. A memo attached states that it was destroyed in I 890.
Another photo shows the cornerstone and part of the stone and brick of
Ascension Church, Episc., on the Shore Road, West Brighton, S.l. The
cornerstone shows the names of Peter Merserau, Warden, John LaTerette,
and other vestry men. A photo, also shows the old LaTourette homestead
house, I n d . , built in the I 840 ' s by John LaTourette, uncle of Lyman D. C.
LaTourette, and where the latter, as a young man (school teacher) stayed
for a time in 1848, when he was about to start, by ox team, across the
Plains to the Oregon Country. Lyman D. C. was the writer's father and the
writer remembers his father's accounts of his visit, and of his experiences
when crossing the Plains. There is also a photo, of Annie B. Clikener (mother
of Mrs. Young) and two grandchildren, and a photo of Mrs. Young and her
husband.
What has been written thus far might well be called the Staten
Island period of LaTourette family history. Rev. James A. M. LaTourette,
and his descendants have been potent influences in preserving records of
the family. Many may wonder why the history of the family during the
period has been so scrappy and difficult to unravel. One must call to mind
the facts that more than two and one-half centuries have elapsed; that
most of the period was during times when there were no newspapers, but
little printing; that the making and preservation of records by hand was
difficult because there was no common language, and not many people
were sufficiently educated and trained in the arts of composition and
writing by hand; that there was but little means of travel or communica¬
tion in the New Netherlands (afterwards New York) area except by small
row or sail-boats; that Indians endangered all of the new communities, and
that there was little or no leisure time for either men or women to make
or keep records of events, even if able to read and write, and that there
was seldom writing material available, or at least not at hand. Typewriters
were not much in use until near 1900. The first printing in the colonies was
at Harvard College in 1638. Hand presses (a slow process) were mostly
in use until the rotary press was invented in 1847, by Richard M. Hoe, of
New York.
One might think that tradition would have preserved the names of
65
vessels that were wrecked or made a landing in distress, and the date, and
names of the people that were lost or saved, and the names of people that
were killed, scalped or saved, during an Indian raid. One must, however,
remember that tradition rarely carries details beyond two or three gener¬
ations, and that ship wrecks and Indian raids were not, at the time, un¬
common. Those who escaped such events were too busy with self-preser¬
vation, finding shelter, food and clothing, to give much attention to estab¬
lishing or preserving a tradition. Enough tradition and recorded facts,
however, have been preserved to establish the important points, that the
early LaTourettes in America were of Huguenot stock; that they came
from the south-western part of France; that they reached America with
difficulty; that they escaped all perils; that they were industrious, honest,
thrifty people; that they firmly believed in a type of Christian religion that
was not dogmatic or intolerant of other beliefs; that they practiced the
Golden Rule in daily life, and, as able, took an active part in building
churches and upholding good government. They, like the great majority
of people in America have helped to make a better nation and a better
world.
66
Chapter XV.
DAVID (Born 1779, Died 1853) AND HANNAH (HEGEMAN)
LATOURETTE, OF LODI, N. Y.
David, oldest son of John and Elizabeth (Bond) LaTourette, was born
at Bound Brook, N.J., July I I, 1779. His father, as his grand-father, fol¬
lowed weaving and farming. Bound Brook was a comparatively new settle¬
ment along Raritan River. A short distance away, at what was called South
Bound Brook, there was a ferry and a town plat owned by his mother's
family. They were well to do at the time, but all died without heirs, except
collateral heirs, consisting of Elizabeth's children, afte r her death. But it
seems that David received no substantial, if any, patrimony from this
source, although, as the writer's father and at least one of his sisters, re¬
lated, he made a trip to New Jersey and New York City, to ascertain
how matters stood, but returned saying that there was nothing for him.
David, in the mean time, had grown, settled at Lodi, N.Y., and married
Hannah Hegeman. His father raised a family of ten children, and he
raised a family of twelve (and two died in infancy).
These two families lived at a time of rapid expansion and develop¬
ment of the United States. The westward movement was rapid to the
Mississippi River, and then on to the Pacific Ocean. The Indian wars had
been won. The Indi ans were pushed back or absorbed into civilized ways.
Many of them died from White-man's diseases. The United States
acguired Florida, Louisana, and soon the Mexican War was on as a result
of which Texas and California were acquired, and the race was on between
England and the United States for the acquisition of the Oregon Country,
embracing what are now the States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and
parts of Montana and Wyoming.
Printing presses, books, weekly and daily papers became numerous.
Travel changed from foot, horse-back, coach, row- or sail-boat to steam¬
boats. The Erie Canal was under construction connecting the Great
Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean by water transportation via Rochester, Syra¬
cuse, Utica, Schenectady, Albany, and thence on the Hudson to New
York City, thus making the latter City the greatest port of entry of the
United States, and the largest city.
The period was prolific of great leaders, statesmen, judges, and ad¬
ministrators. One especially should be here mentioned in connection with
67
the Empire State, viz., DeWitt Clinton, who was successively a State
Senator, United States Senator, Mayor of New York City, and Governor
of the State. He was also the leader as a state builder, and it was mostly
through his influence and good management that the Erie Canal was un¬
dertaken and completed, including branches which connected Lake Cham¬
plain, and Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, with the Erie Canal, thus furnishing
water transportation for the greater part of the state, and, through the
Great Lakes, for the north-central part of the United States. Railway
transportation was soon to follow.
A note should be made here that a grandson of the above David and
Hannah, was named DeWitt Clinton Latourette, after the above DeWitt
Clinton.
About the time that David became of age, he and his younger
brother Henry, started out for themselves, going to a settlement known
as Lodi, on the east side of Seneca Lake, and not far from relatives who
had previously settled in the western part of New York. They here estab¬
lished a weaving business and a small farm. They at first batched. David
was the first to seek a wife. The family story, as related to the writer by
David s son-in-law, Dr. Simeon Smith, who lived near and took care of
David in his last sickness, is that one morning at breakfast time when the
cooking had not gone satisfactorily, he said to Henry, "I am going to
have a wife before night". So he soon left on his horse and rode to a place
where a young lady lived with whom he had become acquainted at curch
Sh e was Hannah Hegeman, whose father had died, and she was living
with friends. Upon presenting himself at the house and telling his errand,
he was informed that Hannah was in the kitchen and the matter would be
settled by her. So to the kitchen David went. The romance is here lacking
in detail, but the result was that before night David and Hannah were
marrried, and she rode home with him, riding behind, as was the custom at
the time. "The goose flew high".
Some time later Henry also married and established his residence
and weaving business at a place near the head of one of the lakes. David's
business and his family prospered. At one time he had as many as four
looms. The record of David and Hannah, as entered in their family Bible
which, in 1899, was in the possession of a daughter, Mehama Smith, at
Mehama, Oregon, where Hannah, in her latter years lived much of
the time, although she lived part of the time and died, at the residence of
her son, Lyman, near Oregon City, Oregon, is as follows:
63
"Births
David LaTourette was born July I I, 1779,
Hannah Hegeman was born June 19, 1791,
Elizabeth LaTourette was born June 8, 1807,
John LaTourette was born Nov. 14, 1808,
Mary An LaTourette was born July I, 1810,
Louisa LaTourette was born May 29, 1812,
Orange LaTourette was born May 2, 1815,
Elmina LaTourette was born Feb. 9, 1817,
Emeline LaTourette was born Feb. 6, 1819,
Mehama LaTourette was born May 31, 1821,
David Louis LaTourette was born Aug. 21, 1823,
Lyman D. C. LaTourette was born May 23, I 825,
Hannah S. LaTourette was born Aug't 9, 1826.
Infants lost:
Hanah LaTourette born March 2, 1814, died March 2, 1814.
Samuel Thompson LaTourette, born June 20, 1830, died Aug. 20
1830.
Deaths
John LaTourette died July 21, 1850.
David LaTourette died July 7, 1852.
Hannah LaTourette died May 24, 1868.
Marriages:
David LaTourette and Hannah, married Sept. 9, 1805.
Chari es Kelly and Elizabeth, married Jan. I I, 1827.
John Brown and Mary Ann, married Jan. I I, 1827.
John LaTourette and Sarah, married July 26, 1830.
Minor Swick and Louisa, married January 11,1 832."
"Hannah S.", born Aug. 9, I 826, was usually called Sarepta. She mar¬
ried Dr. Simeon Smith, as above indicated; they came to Oregon in 1879
and located in Portland (on the East Side, then known as East Portland)
where he practiced as a physician and surgeon, and she served as mid¬
wife at child-births. They were both buried in the Oregon City Mountain
View Cemetery near the lot of L. D. C. Latourette. They had one child,
Cornelius, who became a dentist and then a physician, practicing for many
years at Eagle Creek, Oregon, (north-eastern part of Clackamas County).
He married in N.Y., and had one child, Simeon.
69
Hannah Hegeman's genealogy has been prepared by Laurence
LaTourette Driggs, who on March 8, 1936, wrote to the writer of these
Annals: "She was a daughter of Captain Joseph Hegeman, a soldier of
colonial wars and War of Revolution, from Crum Elbow, Dutchess County.
He was not a sea-going captain as you supposed. His wife was Marie -
and he moved to Ovid in I 795, and died there in 1798. ... His father
was Joseph, who married Sarah Berritcher and lived in Nine Partners,
Dutch ess C-Ounty, from I 739. I lis father was Joseph, of Jamaica, Long
Island, who married Annetje Vanderbeck. His parents were Joseph and
(I believe) a Rapalje. This last Joseph was the oldest son of the original
ancestor, Adrain Hegeman, Sc.hout of the Five Dutch Towns, and Cather¬
ine Margits. I am not accurate in the above because my records are in
the hands of a Miss Allen who is publishing the Hegeman family in the
Record."
The "Record" h ere referred to, is a publication of Staten Island His¬
torical Society. Hanna's childhood was apparently marred by some dif¬
ficulty between her father and mother. They are reported to have been
separated when she was young. She was fourteen years old when married,
and with friends at Ovid which, at the time, was a town or community
about five miles from Lodi. Although Ovid is one of two county seats of
Seneca County, in I 895, it was rated as having a population of 641 , while
Lodi had a population of 559. Hannah was an extraordinarily good wife,
good mother, good woman, and very religious. Her fame has been car¬
ried to the second and third generation after her death May 24th, 1868,
near Oregon City, Oregon, at the home of the writer's father, and her
body lies in his cemetery lot. The writer's aunts and uncles, as well as his
father and mother, with one accord, sing her praise.
Her husband, David LaTourette, was a man of industry, thrift, and
a good provider for his family, though not blessed with much in the way
of 'worldly goods." Some of the articles which he wove are treasured by
descendents. He established a reputation of integrity, sociability and
love of his family, and he was loved by them. His son-in-law, Dr. Simeon
Smith, related to the writer that "father David" when taken with his fatal
illness (dropsy of the heart) had sold his weaving plant and property at
Lodi, and moved to Mecklenburg (about fifteen miles south of Lodi), and
then to Smith Hollow, when as they were driving by a cemetery, he said,
"Simeon, you will soon be taking me there", and soon it was. He was bur¬
ied there, but his body was subsequently moved to McIntyre Cemetery.
70
All of the children went through the common school at Lodi. None
went further, except Lyman D. C. (Daniel Cornwall, named after the hus¬
band of one of his mother's sisters). He had worked through a summer for
a farmer, but was unable to collect his wages. So he concluded to "work
for an education", which he did at Waterloo Academy, doing janitor work
through the school year, and working for his brother, John, on the tow
path of the Erie Canal (driving mules).
The children started out for themselves at early ages. They had been
raised under good influences and happy surroundings. They had been
given good training in Christian ways, on a farm in a rural community
where there was something interesting for each one to do. They raised
fruits, vegetables and grains, for their own use. Their wheat was ground
at their Uncle Abe's mill which was near. Nuts of various kinds grew wild
where children could gather them. School was only one-quarter mile dis¬
tant. A pond for skating in winter and wading in summer was at hand.
Clothing was made at home by an experi (their father, who for a time,
operated four looms, and made bedding, and clothing, dyed, ornamented,
and ready for use). People, from a distance, came there to buy. A small
creek flowed through the farm, and provided attraction and amusement
for children and water for live stock.
Cooking was done in the old fashioned way, over an open fire, in an
expansive fireplace which provided ample room and hangers for various
utensils, as was the case with their ancestors, Jean and Marie (Mercereau)
LaTourette, more than a century before. The buildings (one for residence,
one for weaving work, and one for general utility) were of logs, probably
cut on the place or near. Industry and thrift were necessary for all.
(The above data, about local conditions, were given by the writer's
father and aunts, a large part being by Aunt Emeline, to the writer's sister,
Nellie, who took and preserved notes.)
71
Chapter XVI.
ELIZABETH ("BETSY") LATOURETTE AND CHARLES KELLY
This couple were married, as above shown, on January II, 1821, and
on the same day Mary Ann LaTouret+e was married to John Brown, a
double wedding, at Lodi, N.Y. Elizabeth and Charles went to Michigan,
and, for a long time resided on a small farm near Fentonville (now Fenton).
They were here among relatives, especially the family of Elizabeth's
brother David. Their children were born at Lodi. The writer has heard her
son, Herkimer (commonly called "Herk") relate a visit that he made to
Michigan, and the old home place in 1894. He said that the district and
the inhabitants had changed so much that he was sad and disappointed; at
last he thought of the old spring near where the house had stood; so he
went to it thinking he would bury his face in the fresh, cool water, and drink
as he had done many times when a child, but he found that the spring had
dried up and was no more. This overcame him so that he sat on the ground
and wept.
The writer's sister, Nellie, has a letter written March 16, 1868, by
Aunt Betsy Kelly, then residing at Fenton, Michigan, giving much informa¬
tion about the brothers and sisters and their whereabouts, and some about
her own family. Her children had reached maturity by that time. Betsy
and Chari es were in their 60 s. Her letter indicates that they were still in
love with "good old Mich", but they sold out and came to Oregon, shortly
afterwards. They established their residence in Oregon City across the
street from the Baptist Church, as it was then located at the corner of
Main and 8th Streets, where the writer's father was Deacon and at times,
in the absence of a pastor, conducted services, reading one of Spurgeon's
sermons. Aunt Betsy and Uncle Charles were often visited before church
services, the writer being in tow when a youngster some six or more years
old. Both of them smoked pipes, were very active, pleasant and cordial.
They were of the Episcopal faith, their church being in the same block.
While in Michigan Charles followed farming, and, for a time, was
Justice of Peace. Their children attended the public schools, grew to
maturity, married, and some moved to Oregon, by ox teams, across "the
plains" before any railroad was built to the Pacific Coast. About 1876,
Chari es an d El izabeth also moved to Oregon and located at Oregon City.
Both died, not many years afterwards, and were buried in Mt. View Ceme¬
tery, Oregon City. Their children were:
72
Everington D. (commonly called Ev).
John,
Herkimer (commonly called Herk).
Elmina (commonly called Mina), and
Mary.
Everington D. Kelly was born at Lodi, N.Y., May 20, 1833. When I I
years old his parents moved to Fentonville, as stated above. In the summer
of 1853, having married Lucy Waterous (otherwise Waterhouse) in Feb¬
ruary, 1852, he and Lucy traveled to Oregon, by ox team, and located
at Oregon City, where he went into the mercantile business. His uncle,
Lyman D. C. Latourette was already there, married, having one child, and
engaged in farming and operating a book store. In the summer of I 856, he
returned to Michigan, traveling by steamer, via Panama. In two years he
returned, to Oregon City, and soon became prominent as a hotel-man, a
merchant, Post Master, County Treasurer in 1885, and afterwards a City
Councilman. He and Lucy had three children, Charles, John W., and
Margaret. Charles married Martha J. Blount, Dec. 25, 1885. He and
Martha had Bernice, Veta, Genevieve, and Walter. Bernice married
Luster O. Ice, Jan. 31, 1909. He was for some thirty years a prominent
dentist in Oregon City. He is now (1951) dead. Bernice still resides at the
old h ome (1104 Center Street) in Oregon City. They had two children,
Willi am A. and Jane Ice. William A., born in 1909, became an M.D. in
Los Angeles, residing in Englewood, married, and having three children,
Willi am H., 13 years of age, Susan, 10, and Julian, 8. Jane Ice married
Alfred Boston. They have one child, and live in Newport, Oregon. The
above Veta Kelly, married Lewis Berry. They have Catherine and Lewis
Jr. Veta died in 1918. The above Genevieve Kelly married Lloyd Bernier,
and had Willard and Elmer. Walter (the youngest of Charles and Martha's
family) had no issue. He died of flu in 1918, during World War I, at Fort
McHenry.
John W. Kelly (second son of Ev and Lucy) married Lillie Hughes, in
Oregon City, and had George and Robert. George died young, unmar¬
ried. Robert went to Alaska, where he marrieid and had three children.
He died in I 949.
Margaret (daughter of Ev and Lucy Kelly) married Charles Burns, and
had Willi am (known as Web) and Charles Jr. William married Bessie
Washb urn and had Ed and Leslie. Ed married and has three children.
The above Charles Burns Jr. married Clara Wheeler. They had Bonnie
73
Jean, who died unmarried, Orval and Margaret. Orval married and had
children in Washington. His sister, Margaret, also married in Washington,
and had children there.
John Kelly (second son of Charles and Elizabeth) went to San Jose,
Cal., where he married and had children. His wife was a Miss Barnes of
St. Johns, Michigan.
Herkimer Kelly (third son of Charles and Elizabeth of Lodi, Fenton-
ville, and Oregon City), was probably named after the famous N.Y.
Herkimer, from whom Herkimer County and City, are named. He became
a Brigadier-General during the Revolutionary War. On one occasion he
was severely wounded, his horse shot from under him, but, being assisted
to a tree, he continued to direct the fight (refusing medical attention) until
after the battle was over and won. Herkimer Kelly, his wife and children,
were lovable people. They were personally known by the writer during
many years. Herkimer was familiarly known as "Herk". He married Cath¬
erine (familiarly known as Kate) Hatch in Michiqan, at or near, Fenton.
They came to Oregon about 1866, purchased a block of land in Oregon
City, erected a house, and there raised a family of seven, May, Fielding,
Mina, Amv, Leiqhton, Elizabeth (Bessie), and Roy. They adhered to the
Episcopal faith and were prominent in the church activities. Herkimer was
for many years a bookkeeper in the Bank of Oregon Citv. The children
were educated in the public schools of Oregon City. May became a
teacher and for many years taught in the Portland public schools. Field¬
ing became a bookkeeper and for many years was in the employ of the
Portland Flouring Mills, of Oregon City and Portland. He married, in
Portland, Bessie Barker, and they had three children. Leighton became an
expert in the fish hatchery service of the State of Oregon. He is now re¬
tired and residinq at Waldport, Oreoon. Roy is at Hood River, Oreoon.
May, Mina and Amy, died unmarried. Leiqhton, Elizabeth and Roy are
unmarried.
Mina and Mary, sisters of Ev, John and Herk Kelly, remained in Michigan
and the middle west. The writer has learned but little about the—. The''
were mentioned by Aunt Betsy (their mother) in the letter above referred
to. Mina married a man by the name of Mills, and Mary married a man bv
th e name of Conant, who ran a mill at or near Fenton, Michigan. Aunt
Betsy wrote that this mill "runs like a fiddle."
74
Chapter XVII.
FAMILY OF JOHN LATOURETTE, OLDEST SON OF DAVID
LATOURETTE AND HANNAH HEGEMAN, OF LODI, N. Y.
This John Latourette was born, as shown above, Nov. 14, 1808.
His brother, Lyman D. C. (the writer's father) was born May 23, 1825,
seventeen years younger than John. I he latter was married and operating
a canal boat on Erie Canal, when the former was a lad trying to get an
education at Waterloo Academy and, during summer seasons (and some
in the winter season) working for his brother John on the tow path. John
married Sarah . as shown by the Family Bible, July 26, 1830, when
he was 22 years of age. He died in the summer of I 849, when he was 41 ,
attempting to cross the plains by ox team to the gold mines in California.
The writer's father was, at the time, in the California mines and happened
to receive a letter explaining the fact and circumstances of his death
and burial. The cause was cholera. He was buried along the road by fel¬
low travelers, who wrote the letter.
John's family was at the time in Michigan, the children young. They
were: Elizabeth, Josephine, Emeline, Louisa, John D., and Coleman.
*
Elizabeth married a Phelps and lived at Grass Lake. They had two
children, Anna and Lillie. Anna married a Goodrich and lived at Grand
Haven, Michigan.
Josephine came to Oregon and married Joseph Buchtel. Emeline
lived in Pontiac, Michigan. Louisa, no data. John D. was in the Soldiers
Home, Grand Rapids, Michigan, when the writer obtained information
about him. Coleman, no data.
Josephine is the only one of this family that the writer obtained defi¬
nite information about. She kept a family Bible in which the family data was
entered. This Bible is (Jan. I 953) in the possession of one of her sons who
resides in Portland, Oregon, and who permitted the writer to take notes
from it and other records, which he has. Another son (Fred) also lives in
Portland and kindly furnished the writer with data.
Josephine was born in Michigan, Aug. 17, 1837; came to Oregon in
1853, when 16 years old, crossing the plains with her Aunt Louisa Swick,
and husband, with whom she stayed until married to Joseph Buchtel, April
23, 1855, at Butteville, Oregon. She was a handsome young lady, and
through life. On the trip across the plains an Indian chief tried to buy her,
75
offering twenty horses, and made trouble because not permitted to do
so. Joseph Buchtel was a man of extraordinary energy and ability, being
of English-German stock, pioneers in Ohio (Canton, Stark County, born
Nov. 22, 1830), coming to Oregon by ox team in 1852. He became a
pioneer photographer, having studios in Portland, Astoria and Oregon
City, County Sheriff, one term in Portland, Chief of Portland Fire Depart¬
ment, a long time. Captain, manager, and pitcher of Portland Baseball club
which, under his management, became the leading club of its class. He was
very active and useful in civic affairs and public enterprises. It is said of
him, There has not been any citizen of Portland, who has worked so long,
so faithfully and so successfully as Joseph Buchtel, and this is the record
that will go down to posterity." (Portland, Its History and Builders, by
Joseph Gaston, Vol. I, p. 595). And the same writer says of Josephine,
The attractive home life of Mr. Buchtel had its beginning in 1855, when
he wedded Miss Josephine LaTourette, at Butteville, Oregon. She was
born, in Michigan, of French parentage, in 1836."
Joseph and Josephine Buchtel had children, Lucy Lillian, Addie E.f
Archie L., and Fred G., and three (Joseph, Albert E., and Frank S.) who
died young, unmarried.
Lucy Lillian, born March 16, 1856, married Norwood Lyton Curry, (a
son of George L. Curry, Governor of Oregon, 1854-59, who married a
great-grand-daughter of the famous Daniel Boone). Addie E. Buchtel,
married Wilbur G. Kerns, with whom Joseph Buchtel was a partner in the
real estate business during his latter years.
Archie Latourette Buchtel, eldest son of Joseph and Josephine, was
born in Portland, Oregon, June 6, 1867. He, as the other children, was
educated in the Portland schools. For many years he was a deputy and
chief deputy County Clerk of Multnomah County, Oregon. He now is
retired, and, with his wife, resides at 5319 S. E. Lincoln Street, Portland.
His wife is Minnie (Cronk) Buchtel, coming from a Michigan family. They
were married June I, 1893. They have two children, Chester Cronk and
Beneta. Chester was born Nov. 29, 1895; Beneta, Sept. 16, 1909.
Fred Gere Buchtel, the youngest of Joseph and Josephine's family,
was born March 30, 1878. June 27,1906, he married Mary Effie Young.
He became an expert in the appraisal of public utilities, and, for a num¬
ber of years, was a member of the State Utilities Commission, which was at
the time entitled "Oregon Railroad Commission." He has resided in
Portland all of his life. H e related to the writer that his father and
76
mother lived a good while on the block where the City Hall is now located,
and that his mother gave him a bed spread which she highly prized and
which was woven by one of the Latourette women many years ago. Woven
into the fabric is the name "S. L. Latourrette, 1833," the word "Liberty",
alternating in various places with eagles and the word "Beauty." Fred
Buchtel was unable to give information about "S. L. Latourrette". This
article shows great skill in the weaving, and indicates that it was planned
and made by an American patriot. Probably the maker was Sarah LaTour-
ette mentioned in a note which the writer has reading:
"Sarah LaTourette, with other Huguenots, came to Indiana in 1824.
She was a weaver of fabrics, from table linen to double coverlets . . . .
Sarah wove more coverlets by hand loom than any other woman that
ever lived. And she lived to be ninety. Sarah LaTourette coverlets are now
called American tapestry." — Condensed from historic sketch by Charity
Dye, in a book called "Torch Bearers in Indiana," Mrs. Dye. (See Chapter
XXVIII for further data.)
Fred Buchtel had no child, except one by adoption, Beatrice F., who
married James Newton, and has a son named Randal Buchtel Newton.
The Buchtel Family Bible, above mentioned, shows the following:
"Joseph Buchtel died Aug. 10, 1916,
Josephine Buchtel died Feb. 7, 1928,
Adeline Eliza Kerns died Sept. 25, 1938,
Mary Buchtel (Joseph's mother) died Nov. 16, 1891,
Samuel Buchtel (Joseph's brother) died in May, 1901, in
California,
Frank S. Buchtel, died May 8, 1901,
Joseph Orrille Buchtel died Oct. 30, 1877,
Albert Geiber Buchtel died Aug. I I, 1880,
Lytton Buchtel Curry died March 6, 1882.
"Marriages:
Josephine married April 23, 1855, at Butteville,
Lucy Lillian married March 16, 1879, (to Norwood Lytton
Curry),
Adeline Eliza married Wilbur G. Kerns, Sept. 16, 1881,
Archie L. married Minnie Cronk, June I, 1893,
Florence Louise Curry, daughter of Morton L. Curry, married
Edward John Lautergash, Apil 21, 1936,
77
Fred G. Buchtel married Mary Effie Young, June 27, 1906,
Ward Buchtel Kerns married Harriet Williams (no date given)
Louise Curry married Wilbur W. Babbidge (no date given),
Chester Cronk Buchtel married Lora Thomas, Oct. 16, 1930.
Benita Buchtel married Edwin Harold Boehi, Jan 16, 1932.
Births:
Nov. 22, 1830, Joseph Buchtel,
Aug. 17, 1837, Josephine
March 16, 1856, Lucy Lillian,
Aug. 5, 1857, Albert Ceiber,
Jan. 14, 1859, Adeline Eliza Buchtel,
Sept. 15, 1861, Francis Simeon Buchtel
June 6, 1867, Archie L. Buchtel
Aug. II, 1872, Joseph Orrille Buchtel
March 30, 1878, Fred Cere Buchtel."
78
Chapter XVIII.
MARY ANN LATOURETTE AND JOHN BROWN
Mary Ann, as above shown, was the second daughter of David
LaTourette and Hannah (Hegeman), of Lodi, N.Y. She married John Brown,
Jan. 11,1 827, when seventeen years of age. The writer visited her in I 897,
and took notes from her lips, and from family records that she had.
Among her records, a newspaper clipping appeared from The Addison
Courier, Michigan, Oct. 6, 1888, announcing the death of her husband,
and giving information about his activities, and the members of his family.
It is there stated that he was born at Geneva, N.Y., in I 806; married Mary
A. LaTourette in 1827; he followed farming in New York and Michigan;
his older children were born in N.Y., and Pa., and younger, in Michigan;
erected a log cabin in the woods of Wheatland Township, helped build
the first school and church, also Albion College and Hillsdale College; en-
larged his farm to 400 acres; educated his chidlren (2 daughters and four
sons), and spent the last sixteen years of his life at Addison, Mich. Mary
Ann, although 87 years old at the time the writer visited her and her
daughter, Mary Hazlett, was mentally alert and active, though weak of
body. She gave the best account of the ancestors and late branches of
the family that the writer had had up to that time, and some of it should
be recorded here. She spoke especially of the Mannings at Plainfield, N.J.,
the Osgoods, of Michigan; and Van Fleets, all of whom were her cousins,
more or less distantly related, as will be seen from Chapter XII, of these
Annals. The year that the writer visited Aunt Mary, Martha Osgood cele¬
brated her 90th birthday, on May 17th, 1897, the 52nd annual family
reunion of the Martha Osgood Society, John S. Osgood, president, of
Toledo, Ohio, Josie M. Clarkson, Secretary, of Tecumseh, Mich., and
Hattie M. Sage, Treasurer, of Macon, Mich. The celebration was at the
home of Wm. M. Osgood, Macon, Mich. They are related to the LaTour-
ettes through Mary Ann's uncle Abraham LaTourette who had a daughter,
Elizabeth Ann, who married Hiram Osgood, Jan. 28, 1841, and another
daughter, Angelette, who married George Osgood, of Michigan, March
I I , I 868. The VanFleets are related in a similar manner by the marriage of
Will iam O. LaTourette to Margaret Van Fleet. The writer's father, when
on a visiting trip in I 880, obtained a photograph of Angelette, and it is
now in the possession of the writer's sister, Nellie.
79
The record of Mary Ann Brown's family was copied from her Family
Bible, as follows:
"Marriage, John Brown; Mary A. LaTouretfe, Jan. I I, 1827, Seneca
Co., N.Y. Children:
Louisa Brown,
Orestes O. Brown, Sept. 26, (Year not given).
Eugene M. Brown, Dec. 5, Hillsdale Co., Mich. (Year not given).
Mary A. Brown,
John Brown, Jr.,
S. Araminta Brown, Feb. 26, 1884,
Levant Brown,
Births:
John Brown, March 18, 1806, Cayuga Co., N.Y.,
Mary A. LaTourette, July I, 1810, Seneca Co., N.Y.,
Children:
Louisa Brown, Nov. 4, 1829, Seneca Co., N.Y.
Orestes A. Brown, May I, 1832, Potter Co., Pa.,
Eugene M. Brown, Sept. 5, 1833, Potter Co., Pa.
Mary A. Brown, May I, 1837, Seneca Co., N.Y.,
John Brown, Jr., Sept. 28, 1840, Hillsdale Co., Mich.
S. Araminta Brown, Oct. I, 1842, Hillsdale Co., Mich.
Levant Brown, Oct. 8, 1849, Hillsdale Co., Mich.
Deaths:
Parents: John Brown, Saturday morning, Sept. 29, 1888.
Children: Louisa Brown, Oct. 6, 1852, Hillsdale Co., Mich.,
S. Araminta Brown, Sept. 28, I 855, Hillsdale Co., Mich,
Miscellaneous:
Mary A. Brown married to M. R. Hazlett, Jan. I, 1859,
Romeo B. Hazlett, son of this union, born Nov. 18, I860."
Aunt Mary Ann Brown had a record, of her Uncle Abraham's family,
which gives data the same as that furnished by Peter LaTourette, of South
Plainfield, N.J., and copied in Chapter XII, of these Annals, except that
the date of death of Elizabeth Ann, who married Hiram Osgood, is given
as Aug. 9, I 878, in place of Aug. I 0, I 873, and after S usannah, born July
22, 1826, gives John LaTourette, born Aug. 8, 1826, which is omitted by
Peter LaTourette. This John is a son of the uncle where the writer's father
80
visited before coming to Oregon in I 848. More is to be said about them
in these Annals.
The writer never met any of the children or descendants of Aunt
Mary Ann, except her daughter, Mary A., who married a man by the name
of M. R. Hazlett. This union was apparently not too happy, and there was
but one child, Romeo, who grew to maturity, but was of little help to his
mother or grandmother. Mary A. was, in the family, known as Molly. She
was a woman of marked integrity and ability, and wielded a great deal of
political influence, in Michigan, during her active years before her mother
became feeble with age. She was a good speaker and writer; gave lectures,
and, at, or about election times, made political addresses. In 1895 the
writer called on her at Lansing. She then held a position in the Capitol
Building. She soon afterwards retired in order to care for her mother in
Add ison, which is about 50 miles south-east of Lansing, and 30 miles south¬
west of Ann Arbor. She had accumulated some means but hardly enough
to meet expenses that seemed urgent in helping her brother John, who,
as she wrote in a letter dated July 9, 1906, was in the Montana Soldiers
Home, had one operation for removing a cancer in his throat, and was
about to have another, for removing a cancer of the nose. Her brother,
Levant, at this time, was in New York City, in poor health and discouraged,
her home in Add ison had burned, her mother had been taken temporarily
to the home of her brother, Murat, who lived not far from Addison, but
his wife and he were unable or unwilling to continue caring for Mary Ann,
who was then 96 years old. Still Molly had a strong heart and abiding faith,
for she wrote a cheerful letter, July 7, 1906, in part as follows: "I think
mother will be with me soon, though for the summer it may be only in a
tent, and for the coming winter heaven will fix up a shelter when it comes,
it may be we will be breathing the sweet airs of immortality." And it was
only a few years when she and her mother were "breathing the sweet airs of
immortality". The other brothers and sister, aside from those last above
mentioned had already passed on. Eugene M. Brown was commonly known
in the family as Murat.
81
Chapter XIX.
LOUISA (LATOURETTE) AND MINOR SWICK
The writer obtained no information about the antecedents of Minor
Swick. He and Aunt Louisa were married when Louisa's father and mother,
David and Hannah (Hegeman) LaTourette, were living at Lodi, N.Y. Minor
Swick and Aunt Louisa, like many others, emigrated to Michigan, and
settled at or near Pontiac, as also did Louisa's brother, John, after quitting
the Erie Canal boat activity. In 1849 a calamity befell John's family by
reason of his death while attempting to reach the gold mines in California,
in the summer of 1850.
Data given in the History of the Willamette Valley, by S. J. Clarke
Publishing Co., Chicago, (1927), Vol. III, p. 320, is to the effect that
Louisa LaTourette and Minor Swick were natives of New York State; that
they crossed the plains to Oregon, with their sons, in 1853, locating near
Salem, and taking a Donation Land Claim in the French Prairie district,
his son Minor being 14, when they crossed the plains.
The family of Minor and Louisa (LaTourette) Swick consisted of: Tunis,
commonly called Tune; Daniel, who died on the plains as they were cross¬
ing; Minor; Lyman, commonly, in the family, called Lime; Benjamin, com¬
monly called Ben; and, it is said that there was a daughter, Louisa, who
died young, unmarried. (See History of the Willamette Valley, Edited by
H. O. Lang, published by Hines and Lang, 1885, p. 822.)
Of Tunis Swick, it is said in Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Mal¬
heur, and Harney Counties, Western Historical Publishing Co. (1902),
that Tunis Swick was born in New York in 1832, son of Minor and Louisa
(LaTourette) Swick, went to Michigan with his parents the next year, cross¬
ed the plains to Oregon in 1852, when he drove an ox team, all the way,
barefooted, worked in Portland the first winter, then went to the mines, in
1875 located at Longcreek, Grant County, in the stock business; in 1880
to The Dalles, Oregon, on a farm for five years; then to Grant County,
where he and a son accumulated 2,000 acres and became the heaviest
stock-men of their section; that he served as County Commissioner; that
in June, 1861, he married Margaret Madison, by whom he had children:
Lyman D., living twelve miles north-east of Monument, and having two
children, Howard and Dewey, by his wife, Annie Cochran; that the next
son of Tunnis was William, residing four miles west of Hamilton, married to
82
Elsie Franklin, and having one child, Martha, who married Charles Gentry,
and resides on Cottonwood Creek, and they, in turn, having one daughter,
Mericle; that Tunis Swick's parents died in Yamhill County; that, in 1878
the Bannock and Piute Indians burned his farming implements, killed his
cattle and stole his horses, he being at the time fortified, at Longcreek.
Minor, second son (who grew to maturity), 14, when he and the fam¬
ily crossed the plains in 1853, worked three years in a sash and door
factory, then farming near Corvallis, and later near Dayton, where he re¬
sided until his death. He had a son, John, by his wife, Cerinda Stewart,
whom he married at Corvallis. John was educated in Corvallis, married,
1st, Elsie Grubbs, a daughter of Dr. Carl Grubbs; had a daughter, Mabel,
who became Mrs. M. Porter, of Portland. John's wife died in I 9 I 7. In 1919,
he married Mrs. Ina Fletcher, who came to Oregon from Ohio, in 1913.
(See History of Willamette Valley, first above mentioned, and Portraits
and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley (1903, p. 1340).
Lyman, next son of Minor and Louisa (LaTourette) Swick, was born
in Michigan in I 840; he came to Oregon with the family in I 853; he settled
on a farm near Dayton, Oregon, where he died unmarried. (See above
History of the Willamette Valley, edited by H. O. Young.)
The youngest son, Benjamin, was born in Michigan in 1848; he came
to Oregon, as did the others; he was educated at Willamette University,
Salem, Oregon,, and became a dentist, practicing in several cities of Ore¬
gon; he was also a farmer, especially in his latter days, near Dayton; he
married Martha Flint, and had two daughters, the elder being Lena, who
married a merchant, Mr. Detmering, of Dayton, and the younger being
Fay, who married Mr. Detmering, after Lena's death, and helped him bring
up two young children, born to him and Lena. Afterwards a divorce was
granted, and Fay married Mr. Nelson of Frederick & Nelson's Department
Store, in Seattle, Wash. He subsequently died and Fay was reported as
inheriting considerable means. The writer was personally acquainted with
the family when they lived on the farm between Dayton and LaFayette,
before either of the girls were married, and for some years afterwards.
Fay was gifted as a dramatic reader and gave reading exhibitions. The
writer is informed that a son of Lena now runs a gas station at Dayton.
83
Chapter XX.
ORANGE LATOURETTE
Orange LaTourette, the next in line of the children of David and
Hannah (Hegeman) LaTourette, was born at Lodi, N.Y., but, upon coming
to maturity went to Michigan, as did those of his sisters above mentioned.
Michigan was, at the time, quite a wild district, still a Territory, it did not
become a state until 1837. At the time that Orange and his sisters, and
their husbands, established their residences in the southern part of Mich¬
igan, log cabins were mostly in use. Wild animals abounded. A distance of
some 400 miles separated Lodi, N.Y., from Addison, Mich., or Adrian, and
Kalamazoo is an additional distance of perhaps 75 miles. Orange settled in
a community called Gun Lake, about 15 miles southerly from Kalamazoo.
The writer visited him there in the fall of 1896, when he was 81 years of
age. His wife was dead and he was living with his son, Charles, who oper¬
ated a farm. He related much historical data about the family, his uncles,
etc., all of which was, in a general way, much like that given in these Annals.
Not long after reaching Michigan he joined Company K, and took part in
the Black Hawk War against Indians, in northern Illinois. This war is
named after a remarkable Indian leader known as Black Hawk, who organ¬
ized remnants of the lllini (whence the name of the State) Indians who in
turn were remnants of the Algonquain Indians, who had occupied much of
the area between the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers. Abraham Lincoln,
Jefferson Davis, and others who afterwards became prominent in Amer¬
ican history, took part in this war which ended in 1 832. Orange then
worked for a farmer in Michigan, for two years, and earned enough to
purchase eighty acres of land, and for a time owned land that Murat
Brown afterwards owned, and later acquired land in the Gun Lake district,
where he and his son, Charles, made a nice farm as the writer saw at the
time of his visit. He told about his uncle Abe having a grist mill near Lodi;
his trips there, by horseback, with wheat to be ground; his uncle Henry s
children all dying from consumption, uncle Henry buried at Mecklenberg,
his mother going to Oregon with Mehama and James Smith, his uncle
Joe, who kept a store in New York City, coming to Lodi after failing, his
trouble with wolves at Bean Creek, birth of his two older children, Henri¬
etta and Wells, at Lenoway, and the others, David, Charles and Eva
(Ebbie), at Gun Lake, near Bradley, Michigan.
Henrietta married a man, by the name of Norris, who was well tem-
84
pered but not energetic, a poor provider for his family. The result was that
Henrietta became the bread winner for the family, by weaving rugs, sew¬
ing, etc., and she was assisted by her children, Emma and David, as they
became old enough. The children were born at Fentonville (now Fenton)
where their uncle David resided in his prosperous period. At about the time
his health failed they came to Oregon and purchased a small farm, in
the Maple Lane district, near their uncle Lyman D. C.'s farm. Both Emma
and David, who were not far from the writer's age, went to the same
school. About 1889 they sold their place and purchased a house and lot
in Oregon City. After Mr. Norris died (about 1900) they moved to a
country place near Sherwood, Oregon, where they raised chickens. Henri¬
etta and her son, David, died here, but they were buried in Mt. View Cem¬
etery, at Oregon City. Emma sold the Sherwood place and moved to Ore¬
gon City, where she remained until near the time of her death (about I 950)
at Eugene. So Henrietta, who was an energetic and lovely woman, was
without any remaining descendant. Her brother, Wells, came to Oregon
about the time she came. He was a guard at the state penitentiary for
many years, and resided in Salem, where he was married. He left a daugh¬
ter, Eva, but the writer failed to ascertain the date of his death or the
whereabouts of Eva. His brother, David, came to Oregon, at, or about the
time that Wells came. He was unmarried and lived at Salem. He died Oct.
25, 1886, I eaving a small estate, and his father, Orange, as his only heir.
Wells, was the administrator. Henrietta's brother, Charles, was married
and had a daughter, Eva (Ebbie). They lived on the farm at Gun Lake. The
writer failed to keep in touch with them.
85
Chapter XXL
HANNAH ELMINA AND EMELINE
The next daughter, of David and Hannah (Hegeman) LaTourette, was
Hannah Elmina, who was commonly referred to as Elmina. She, and Louisa
who married Minor Swick, are the only ones of the writer's aunts that he
never saw. Elmina married Ira Dennis, in New York, about 1836. They
emigrated to Michigan, and then to Oregon, as did some of the others.
Their children were born in New York and, or, Michigan. As shown by let¬
ters and contact, with some of the descendants, the children were Oscar,
Hannah Elmina (commonly called El), Emma, John, and Mintie. The first
two arrived in Oregon about I 859. They made their home with their aunt,
Mehama, and James Smith, who conducted a hotel operation at Salem.
El taught school near Salem, and Oscar worked at carpentering. About
1861 or 1862, their mother and father arrived in Oregon with the other
members of the family, coming overland. Oscar and El came by water via
Isthmus of Panama. The family located at, or near, Brooks, a village near
Salem.
Oscar married and had two daughters: May, who married Robert
Rossiter; and Winnie who married Starr (but neither left a descendant);
and a son, Oscar, Jr., or Ossie, who married and had three sons and a
daughter. One son, Everett, was employed by the State Highway Com¬
mission, Traffic Department. The writer failed to get definite information
about the other descendants of Oscar.
El, after teaching a few years, married George R. Scoffins, a man
born at Kilham, Yorkshire County, England, Aug. 26, 1826. When 14 he
was apprenticed to a blacksmith, whom he served seven years. He then
left home, came to America, and worked at his trade several places before
reaching Oregon, where he located at Brooks. He did well and acguired a
farm, which he sold to Ira Dennis, whose daughter, El, he married April 2,
i 87 I . In a few years they came to the Peninsula District (now in Portland)
where they had a timber tract overlooking Mock's Bottom. Here they
pioneered (for a time in a log cabin) while they cleared the land of heavy
timber. They then sold the place, and he followed real estate with Thomp¬
son and Menifee, in the Upper Albina District (now part of Portland), until
he died Feb. 10, 1894. El was a bright woman, good manager, and capable
business operator in her own right. She died June I 3, ! 935, aged 94 years.
She and her husband had Maude, born June 25, 18/5; Claude, born July
86
31, I 877; and Clyde, born July 31, I 879. They have all lived in and about
Portland, and are still (1954) in fair health. Maude married a dentist, Wal¬
ter Tillman, and assisted him in dental work until his death. Claude followed
merchandising, and later became a bookkeeper and paying teller in the
office of the City Treasurer, Portland, until retired because of age. He
had a daughter who died in infancy. He subsequently married Blanch Love¬
land, but they have no child. Clyde never married. He has been a plumber,
and has followed other activities, and made his home at his sister's. The
writer has personally known them for most of their lives. The above dates
are from the record kept by Cousin El in her Family Bible.
Emma Dennis married Lewis Russell, who was a furniture dealer in
Silverton (near Salem), Oregon. They had Roy who became a musician, but
died unmarried, and Rex, who married and had Rex Jr., and a daughter.
The writer did not know any of the members of this family and obtained
no statistical data.
John Dennis married and had children: Carl (called Cecil) and Bart
(both of whom died in youth), and Eva who married Clarence Grover. He
had a brother in Detroit, Mich., who invented a device used in stores for
entering sales, and became wealthy. He took Clarence into the business
with him. So Clarence and Eva went to Detroit, and lived there until the
brother and Clarence died. In the meantime, a daughter, Ruth, was born
to Eva and Clarence. So Eva and Ruth came back to Oregon, and located
at Road's End (along the coast near Taft). Eva now teaches at Taft.
Araminta Dennis (usually spoken of as Mintie) married Edgar Long, a
piano tuner and dealer. They lived in McMinnville, Ore., for a time and
then in Portland. Their children were Guy, Myrtle, Anna, Ray, Willard and
Ernest. Both father anc! mother are now dead. Guy owned and operated a
grocery business in Portland for many years, hie married Louisa Gallen, and
they had Masel and Wilford. Masel married and has a son about 18 years
old. Wilford is an active attorney in Portland, married and has two
children.
Myrtle (usually called Myrtie) married . . . Schaeffer, Sept. 28, 1911.
She, like her mother, has been very active and efficient, first becoming a
stenographer and then a beutician. She has engaged in the latter activity
for many years, and still conducts a beauty parlor in Portland. She had a
son, Wilford, who is now a retired naval officer, residing at San Diego,
Cal., and has a family. She also has a daughter, Masel, who helps her
mother as a beautician. She is married but has no children. Myrtle's hus¬
band died some years ago.
87
Anna Long married and has two sons. Her health has been poor.
Her husband is dead.
Ray married and has Thelma and Raymond. Willard married and has
Donald and Dalton. Ernest married and has Virginia.
Emeline, the next member of David and Hannah (Hegeman) LaTour-
ette's family, married a man by the name of Bergen, at, or near, Lodi, N.Y.
They lived for some years near Cayuga Lake where their daughter, Addie,
was born. She was the only child of this union. As a young lady, she
attended, for a time, Elmira Female Seminary. She was gifted poetically
and wrote several poems which were well regarded. The family moved to
Fentonville, Mich., where Addie married a dentist, Mr. Miles, but the
marriage was not a happy one; a separation and divorce resulted. Emeline
was the mainstay for the family, and provided for Mr. Bergen, as well as for
Addie and herself. Addie was born about I 849. The family came to Ore¬
gon City, Ore., about 1879, and lived in the same block where her sister,
Betsy Kelly, lived.
Emeline was a woman of industry and a good housekeeper, a good
manager, full of good works, although small in stature and somewhat lame.
Her husband fell ill and was hospitalized while they resided at Oregon
City. About 1883 they moved to Mehama, where Emeline helped her
sister, Mehama, with the cooking, and Addie helped about the house work
of the hotel. Here Addie met and married Capt. J. D. Wooden, who was
engaged in a mining enterprise near the town. For a time before the acci¬
dent and death of her brother, Lyman D. C., she was at Oregon City help¬
ing Dewitt Clinton and his wife and helping with the cooking at Lyman D.
C.'s farm, where she was at the time of his accident. She was wonderfully
kind and helpful during the time of his illness and death, and afterwards.
She was so sympathetic and encouraging that the children will remember
her, with kindest thoughts, as long as they live.
The mining, near Mehama, failed. In the meantime. Cap t. Wooden
obtained a small farm near Newport, Idaho, to which Aunt Emeline and
Addie moved, and helped about the place, while he followed mining about
Coer d'Alene, Idaho. At length the farm was sold and they all moved to
Spokane. While they were still on the farm, the writer s sister, Nellie,
visited them for a few months. At Spokane Capt. Wooden became inter¬
ested in mines about seventy miles from Spokane. He stayed there most
of the time. On Jan. 2, 1904, Aunt Emeline died from an attack of the
88
grippe, which went to her lungs. She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
Addie continued to live in Spokane, while Capt. Wooden spent most ot
his time in the mines about Grangeville, Idaho. He was very much of a
mountain man, at one time a scout of Kit Carson. Addie died at Spokane,
Feb. I I th or 1 2th, 1 922.
89
Chapter XXII.
MEHAMA (LATOURETTE) SMITH
Mehama, the next member of David and Hannah (Hegeman) La-
tourette's family, lived in New York, at or near Mecklenberg, at the time
of her father's death, which was in 1852. She married James X. Smith,
of Herk imer County, N.Y., where his father had lived having served as
Captain in the Revolutionary War, lost a leg, and was given a grant of
land in Herkimer County. He had two sons, James X. and Harrison. They
lived between Mecklenberg and Ithaca, N.Y. James married Mehama
Latourette about 1841. He was born in 1817. They had Edgar O., born
Feb. 26, I 843, Emma, born March 29, I 846, and Lyman, born Feb. 8, 1851,
died Dec. 8, 1859. In 1857 J ames came to Oregon, via Isthmus of Panama,
and the next year the family came by the same route, and Mehama's
mother, Hannah, came with them. They visited at Lyman D. C.'s, near
Oregon City, for a time; then located at Salem, Ore., where they operated
a Hotel (Marion), before the present Marion was erected. Harrison,
brother of James, came in I 858. He had a daughter, Lulu, who married a
Legge, and had a son, (Kenneth C. Legge, in Portland).
Mehama was a wonderful cook and liked hotel work. She was full of
energy and strong, though small. They settled at a beautiful spot along the
North Fork of Santiam River, about 27 miles from Salem, and along the
road to Detroit, and leading to Eastern Oregon. The spot was a splendid
place for trout fishing, and it was not long before Mehama's dinners gained
fame, so that many drove from Salem to fish and eat. She and James
platted a town site and sold lots. The place was named Mehama after
her. They lived there the rest of thfeir lives and were buried there.
The site of their home and hotel is now flooded by back water from a
dam. Her mother, Hannah, lived with them most of the time, but she
spent much of her time with her son, Lyman D. C., on his farm near Oregon
City. She died there, May 24, 1868, and was buried in the lot of Lyman
D. C., Mountain View Cemetery, Oregon City, where a monument was
placed, which still stands. The origin of the name, Mehama, is not known,
but it is believed that Hannah coined it from letters of her name and the
names of daughters born before Mehama.
Emma married a man who became prominent in the County (Marion)
and was elected County Judge, G. P. Terrell. They had two children,
Ralph and Lila. Ralph married in Roseburg, lived there and died Aug. 7,
90
1943. Lila Terrell married, first, a man from Ireland, who had an uncle who
had wealth and silverware that his nephew brought to America and ex¬
hibited at the hotel in Mehama. He and Lila adopted a girl whom they
raised, named Alice. She married J. F. McDonald, and lives in Portland. Lila
married, second, William Dolphena. They resided in Portland for many
years, and now reside near the city (4606 SE Thiessen Road). They have no
issue. Emma's brother, Edgar, had a son, Everett.
91
Chapter XXIII.
DAVID L. AND EMMA (BOOTH) LATOURETTE,
AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.
David's full name was David Lewis Latourette, and Emma had a
middle initial "M". He was born at Lodi, N.Y., as above shown, Aug.
26, 1823. His wife was born at Perth Amboy, N.J., Nov. 24, 1824, died
at Oregon City, Ore., Nov. 25, 1908. She was of English parentage.
David, like other members of his father's family, started out for him¬
self when young. None of the brothers or sisters took to weaving, although
this was common among the ancestors and some branches of the family.
At Fentonville (now Fenton), David started a private banking business
as early as 1858, and about the same time he had an oil mill operation in
St. Louis, Mo., and was living there in I 859. He sent to his brother, Lyman
D. C., about that time a clipping showing an oil press. It is labeled "D. L.
Latourette, Manufacturer of Linseed & Castor Oils, St. Louis, Mo. Inventor
and Proprietor of Latourette's Patent Oil Press." He also became inter¬
ested in Arkansas swamp and overflow lands and plans for reclamation.
He invested, to some extent, in the purchase of these lands. In 1871 he
owned and controlled four banks, one in Fenton, one in Grand Rapids,
one in Saginaw, and one in Holly. He is said to be the most influential
moneyed man in this region. . . . He seems to be a friend of every charit¬
able institution, and contributes largely of his means every year. .. . For
many years he has been a prominent and most influential citizen of Fen¬
tonville, where he was connected in a leading way with the National Bank
of that place." — (Grand Rapids Eagle, Oct. 10, 1871.)
In the fall of 1871 David's health failed to the extent that he could
not carry on as previously, and only one of his children, Howard, was old
enough to take his place in the many business activities that v/ere then in
hand, and David himself was under the necessity of more guiet living. He
soon regained his health sufficiently to place his son, Howard, in charge of
his affairs in Michigan, and move, with his wife and younger members of
the family to Arkansas, and later to Thoms River, N.J., about 100 miles
south of Fresh Kills, Staten Island, where his great-grand-father Henry had
lived, and his great-great-grand-father Jean, who was the refugee from
France, and not so far from Perth Amboy where his wife's folks had lived.
The writer's father and oldest brother, Willard, visited him and those of
the family at home, in the spring of 1879, when Willard was on summer
9?
vacation from Rochester Theological Academy. The writer visited How¬
ard, and his family, at Fenton in 1896, on vacation from the University of
Chicago. Howard was still in control of the bank that his father had
started there so many years before, and also following up on his father's
farming, Baptist church, and Old People's Home activities. He related to
the writer much detail of his father's activities, Christian spirit and helpful¬
ness to fellow-citizens and relatives. It must be said, of David, that he was
a man having wonderful energy, excellent business ability, a large heart,
and friendly disposition. The following were born to David and Emma:
Howard Booth, born May 7, 1847,
Mary Emma, born at Troy, Mich., Feb. 17, 1849,
Hattie, born 1853, died in 1854,
Chari es D., born in St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 6, 1855,
Lizzie Eliza, born in St. Louis, Mo., May 24, 1856,
Ida Belle, born in Fenton, Mich., Aug. 6, 1859.
93
Chapter XXIV.
HOWARD LATOURETTE
The above Howard Booth Latouret+e married Ella W. Sheldon at
Fenton, Mich., Sept. I 5, I 869, and resided there during his life. As above
indicated, he was engaged in banking and farm activities. He was also
active in the Baptist Church, Old Peoples' Home, v/elfare of his family,
and of the community. He died at Fenton, July I , I 903. Ella died May 5,
1915. The children of Howard and Ella were:
Josie, who died when a child,
Lou, born Nov. 29, 1871, died Dec. 31, 1951, unmarried,
Pauline, born Sept. 17, 1873, died June 27, 1901, unmarried,
Florence, born Sept. 14,' 1875, married C. S. Milliken, Dec. 25,
I 902, died March 1951.
Harold, born April 22, I 882, died May 25, I 908, unmarried,
Alexandrine, born Feb. 8, 1885, married Bernard F. Hemp, Sept.
15, 1915,
Winifred, born Sept. 21,1 886, married W. C. Mitchell,
Marguerite, born June 18, 1888, married Rev. R. P. Douglass,
April 22, 1919,
Sheldon H., born Sept. 7, 1890, married Margaret Bennett, June
18, 1917,
Livingston B., born April 12, 1893, married 1st, Theresa Leah
Tobias who died Jan. 6, 1919; 2nd, Ruth Bailey, died Apr.
26, 1950.
V
Lou was educated in the local public school and graduated from the
University of Michigan. She aided her father in his business affairs, and her
mother in home and family affairs. For years she was manager of the
Old Peoples' Home in Fenton, and active in Baptist Church work. On
the death of her father she administered his estate. Her health failed
during her late years, while living in California.
Pauline graduated from Kalamazoo College after finishing the local
schools at Fenton. She and her sister, Florence, had splendid voices and
sang duets at many church and other gatherings.
Florence was educated, like Pauline, locally and at Kalamazoo Col¬
lege. Her health became poor, for a time, so she and her husband went to
94
California. He was a Professor and taught there. They had two boys,
Sheldon Spencer, born Dec. 28, 1903, and Donald Booth, born July 19,
1907. The former married Rhoda Herr. The latter married Ruth Harwood.
Sheldon and Ruth have two children, Douglas, Born Nov. 12, 1940, and
Nancy, born Nov. 23, 1944.
Alexandrine and Bernard F. Hemp settled at Spokane, Wash., where
they lived a long time, and then moved to Berkely, Cal., where they still
live. They have three children, Pauline, born June 25, 191 7, Richard Hunter,
born Feb. 17, 1919, and Peter L., born Oct. 20, 1927. Their daughter,
Paul ine, married Howard Hetzner who was born Aug. 15, 1916. Richard
Hunter married Lorna Jackson. Peter married May McClinton in June,
1950. Pauline and Howard Hetzner have three children, Paula, born Nov.
27, 1942, Peter, born Feb. 12, 1949, and Martha, born in 1950. Richard
and Lorna have a son, Paul Bernard, born Nov. 29 1952.
Winifred married William Mitchell, Nov. 17, 1917. They settled at
Rupert, Idaho, where they still live. They have two children, John Emil, born
Sept. 12, 1918, and William Latourette (Billie) born in 1921, and died Sept.
15, 1926. John Emil married Bertha Boyle, June 23, 1938. They had three
children, Sheldon, born Sept. I, 1939, died July 26, 1940, Emerson, born
Jan. 3, 1944, and Jeanmarie, born Sept. 5, 1949. After a divorce, John
Emil married Dena Inama, and they have William, born in 1952.
Marguerite married Rev. Robert P. Douglass, April 22, 1919. He
was born Oct. 20, 1880, and became a D.D., and for a long time, Secre¬
tary of the Baptist Convention of Montana, Idaho, and Utah, and a mem¬
ber of the Board of Trustees of Linfield College, at McMinnville, Ore. He
and Marguerite made their home at Salt Lake City, Utah. He died Feb.
4, I 948. After that M arguerite was for several years Matron of the Dormi¬
tory at the College, McMinnville, and later at Berkely Divinity School, Cal.
Their children are Jean and Robert. The former born April 7, 1920, mar¬
ried Bayard Sleeper, July 19, 1945, and have two children, Susan, born
August 10, 1947, and Ann Marguerite, born Sept. 17, 1949. Robert
married Lois Wickland, March 17, 1944. They have two children, Sandra
Jean, born Sept. 4, 1946, and Gwen Elaine, born Oct. 14, 1949.
Sheldon, the second son of Howard and Ella Latourette, wrote from
Hartland, Mich., July 14, 1951, in part as follows:
' . . . Personally I am rather lukewarm about family trees; there is so
little one can do about his ancestors. Meritorius indeed to pay them
95
respect! But there is little long time planned genetic objective in our
human kind. We have been breeding Jersies about 35 years, and a
bovine generation is only 4 to 5 years. Out of 16 herd sires used, only
three have proved outstanding in increasing production, and we have
established some four or five maternal lines of proven production. Maybe
that explains my above mentioned lukewarmness.
"There is little I can add to Winifred's synopsis except some
personal memories. My father developed 'creeping paralysis' when about
50. I used to take him on drives with our horse and buggy when I was a
teen age high school kid, through these Tyrone hills we both loved. As a
banker he always owned 4 or 5 farms. He was universally liked and
respected, and was a keen appraiser of men.. His liking for agriculture was
undoubtedly a factor in my choosing to be a farmer . . .
"I never knew either of my grandfathers, but I can just remember
grand mother Latourette. Here's a story father once told me as we
were driving by the log cabin on the north shore end of Long Lake
where he was born May 7, 1847. One summer day his mother sat on the
south porch of the cabin shelling peas, and rocking him in the hickory
cradle with her foot. Suddenly an Indian woman with a papoose on her
back appeared at the edge of the clearing. She stalked across to the
porch, stared impassivlely at the little white baby, and then quickly
exchanged babies and stalked back into the woods. Grand mother
Latourette kept right on shelling peas. Soon the Indian mother reappear¬
ed smiling broadly, put father back in the cradle, and they became
good friends.
"I get a lot of satisfaction driving over these same paved roads in
a Buick. As a County Agricultural Agent I have tried to be of some social
service."
Sheldon's reference to genetics causes the writer to note that this
compilation of LaTourette Annals is not intended to embrace a branch
of biology dealing with heredity and variation, although it may be so
considered incidentally. In future years human genetics may be more
thoroughly studied and applied. In that case human life may be improved
as animal and plant life have been improved, - and further improvement
is being made with remarkable rapidity. Ancient habits and customs will
not much longer delay the application of scientific methods to human
genetics, so that the continuous breeding of morons, kleptomaniacs, and
other forms of debased life will be checked. Now it seems that little can
be done about human genetics, but medical and other sciences are
rapidly developing, and a few more generations may see the day wh$n
human gene+ics will be so applied as to greatly restrict the breeding of
96
morons, etc., and also restrict excessive increase of population. Historical
data about families will then be important.
Sheldon's letter continues: "Sheldon H. LaTourette, born Sept. 7,
1890, the eighth in a family of nine; Fenton High School 1908; Kalamazoo
College 1909-10; Oberlin College 1912; 1912-1915 worked my way
around the world, teaching in Japan and China; 1917 married Margaret
Eloise Bennett, Oberlin '12, two children, (I) Howard Bennett LaTourette,
born 1918; Hartland High School 1936; Oberlin College 1940; University
of Michigan Medical School 1943; Cap't. in U.S. Army 1943-45; now a
radiologist in U.S.M. Medical School faculty; married to Jane Read; has
two daughters, Sue and Anne. (2) Ann LaTourette, born 1924; Hartland
High School 1942; Oberlin College 1946; married to William H. Foster,
Ohio Weslyn and U. S. Navy, one son, William Howard Foster; living in
Saginaw, Mich.; William with Consumers Power personnel."
Sheldon's sister Winifred, adds some facts showing that David and
Emma (Booth) LaTourette, during their prosperous days, lived on a farm
in the Tyrone district, called "The Old Stone Farm", the stone from this
farm being used to build the fences, the Fenton Baptist Church and the
Baptist Minister's Home. The writer recalls visiting this farm with her
father, Howard, and seeing the remains of the house that was also built
from the stone on this farm, but ruined by fire after David and Emma had
moved to Prescott, Ark.
Livingston, the youngest son of Howard and Ella LaTourette, wrote
to his sister Marguerite, shortly before his death, showing the record of
himself and family as follows: born April 12, 1893, 1st married Theresa
Leah Tobias (b. Sept. 23, 1893; d. Jan. 6, 1919); 2nd married Ruth Bailey,
April 4, 1923. Children of Livingston and Ruth:
Harold Kenneth, born April 10, 1924, married Oct. 26, 1944,
to Beverly Burgess (b. Dec. 9, I 922), and have Harold K. Jr.,
b. March 21,1 947, and Helen Denise, b. May 28, I 949,
Patricia Ann, b. June 27, 1927, married Erich Lucas, b. Oct. 26,
1923.
Jean Marie, born May 3, 1827,
Mary Lou, born June 16, 1930,
Therese Cecile, born Oct. 19, 1937.
Livingston attended Oberlin College two years. In 1915 he went into
life insurance at Seattle, Wash., where he remained for twenty-seven
97
years; during the war, with Boeing Aircraft Co., and then back to insurance
with the New York Life, Seattle, where he remained until his death, April
26, 1950.
98
Chapter XXV.
MARY EMMA LATOURETTE
Mary Emma Latourette, the next in the family of David L. and Emma
(Booth) Latourette, was born at Troy, Mich., Feb. 17, 1849. Her younger
days were during the prosperous period of her father in Michigan. She
was well educated, studied art, and became adept at oil painting. On May
17, 1670, she married, LeRoy Channing Driggs, who was a son of a U. S.
Congressman from Michigan. LeRoy served as his secretary. She and
LeRoy were with her father for a time at Tom's River, N.J., and later at
Prescott, Ark. They came to Oregon City, Oregon, in 1884, after Mary's
brother, Charles, was in the law business and in partnership with D. C.
Latourette, his cousin. The writer was then a boy of 12 years, and Cousin
Mary's older son, Edmund F., was I 3 or thereabouts, and his brother, Lau¬
rence Latourette Driggs, was about 9. We visited and played together.
Their father, LeRoy, soon obtained employment in the office of John
Myers, U. S. Marshall, in Portland, and commuted by railway from Oregon
City to Portland, and some years later they moved to Portland (and Mary's
mother with them) where they lived until after Aunt Emma and Cousin
LeRoy had passed on, the boys grown to manhood, and were practicing
law in New York City. A few years later Cousin Mary went to visit them.
She ultimately entered the Presser Music Teacher's Home where she
remained until death. The genealogy of this family has been fully written up
and published by the younger of the two sons, and gives the names, and
dates for all, including the grandchildren. Both of the boys are now dead.
99
Chapter XXVI.
CHARLES D. AND LIZZIE LATOURETTE
Charles D. (second son of David and Emma (Booth) Latourette), was
born at St. Louis, Mo., when his father was operating the oil enterprise
there, although he had previously resided at Fentonville, Mich., where
Howard was born. When Charles was five the family moved back to Fen¬
tonville and established their residence at the "Old Stone Farm." Charles
D. was 17 when his father's health failed. Charles did not take to church
work and Christian fellowship, as did other members of the family. His
father and mother both were great church workers and her father had
been a Baptist preacher. Charles, however, was very bright and v/ell
adapted to take an education fitting him to the legal profession. And this
he did in the local schools and in the State University at Ann Arbor, from
which he received the law degree, LL.B. in the class of 1878, John E.
Magers from Oregon, being in the same class. He was admitted to the
Michigan bar. But he looked west and came to Oregon with John Magers,
influenced, perhaps, by the fact that he had an uncle and several aunts
here, as above shown. After looking about at Corvallis, and other places,
he decided to "hang out his shingle" at Oregon City, in 1879. He and his
uncle, Lyman D. C., were close friends immediately, his uncle aided him
as able, and he made a success from the beginning.
In 1883 he took in as a partner his cousin, DeWitt Clinton, who by
that time had completed his college and legal education and had been
admitted to the Oregon Bar, under the name of C. D. & D. C. Latourette,
Lawyers. C. D. was a staunch Democrats and D. C. was a steadfast Repub¬
lican, but they each decided not to discuss politics or religion about the
office and to stick closely to business. The result was a profitable business.
They handled collections, fire insurance, and brokerage, as well as profes¬
sional activities. In 1888 they erected a brick and stone building along
Main Street and established a bank under the State law. They named it
The Commercial Bank of Commerce. Their law office was then located in
a part of this building. In the mean time, C. D. had married Sedonia Shaw,
who was born in Oregon, on the Shaw Donation Land Claim, a little south¬
west of Oregon City. Her parents were pioneers, Jefferson and Martha
Shaw, who had come to Oregon, by ox team, in I 852. She was a Congrega¬
tionalism a lovely woman, good wife, good mother, and good housekeeper.
She helped C. D. in his business by keeping a pleasant home. D. C. had
100
married Ellen Scott, also of pioneer stock, a lovely woman, good wife,
good mother, and good housekeeper. She also helped the business, as did
Sedonia who was, by her friends and relatives called Dony. About the time
the bank was started, Frank Donaldson married C. D.'s sister, Ida Belle,
and became cashier of the bank. Henry Failing, President of the First
National Bank of Portland, was interested as a stockholder in the bank,
and a director. On his death, C. D., and D. C., purchased his stock. In
1907 the bank was chartered under the national banking law and was
named The First National Bank of Oregon City.
Chari es and Sedonia had four sons, all of whom became members of
the Oregon Bar, and the oldest, Mortimer, after service in the bank for
some time, became its president, a position which he held until after C. D.
had retired from active service, the partnership had been dissolved, and
the bank taken over by the First National Bank of Portland as one of its
chain of banks. The writer, in 1894, before he began his legal education
at Columbia University, was in the law office of C. D. & D. C., as collector
for both office and bank and process server and he so continued for one
year. Cousin Henrietta's son, David, served as janitor for years, and C. D.'s
youngest son, Earl, became a partner in the firm. About 1928, C. D. re¬
tired from active service. Aside from his professional and banking service,
he had rendered much community service, as Councilman, Mayor, and
Municipal Judge, of the City. Twelve drinking fountains on the City
streets, attest one of his good acts. A writer for the Oregon Journal had
this to say of him: "A thorough believer in the doctrine of hard work, Mr.
Latourette has accomplished something worth while and is exceptionally
well preserved, appearing much younger than his years. His life has been
rigidly lived and the respect accorded him is well deserved." — (Fred Lock-
ley's History of Oregon from The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. 2, p. 187). C. D.
& D. C. acquired a cemetery lot in Oregon City Mountain View Cemetery,
where both are interred.
The statistical record of Charles and Sedonia's family and descend¬
ants, is as follows:
Charles and Sedonia, married Dec. I, 1876, had these children:
Mortimer Dillon, born Nov. 27, 1881,
Howard Fenton, born September 4, 1882,
Willi am (died when one year old),
John Randolph, born January 4, 1886,
Earl Cornelius, born February 10, 1889.
101
Mortimer married Edna Daulton, July 29, 1908. They had Charles
Edward (usually called Ed), born July 24, 1909, and Linwood Seaman
(usually called Lin), born April 23, 1915.
Howard married Eleanor Rothermel, Nov. 16, 1910. They had Allene,
born June I, 1913, (died, of polio, when 12), and Nancy, born Nov. 26,
1920. Howard married, 2nd, Rose Turner, May 22, 1952.
John Randolph married Sally Clay, Nov. I, 1916. They have Lucile,
born Oct. 14, 1917, John Randolph II, born April 27, 1921, Sally Clay,
born Sept. 9, 1923, and Carole (M itzi) , born Sept. 26, 1925.
Earl Cornelius married, 1st, Ruth Steiwer, April 30, 1909. They have
Ann, born Nov. 3, 1914, Jeanne, born April 3, 1917, and Earl Cornelius
Jr., born April 17, 1920. He married, 2nd, Eleanor Marshall, (no issue).
Charles Edward, son of Mortimer, married MaBelle Whitcomb, June
22, 1932. They have Leslie, born Feb. 21, 1935, Linda, born June 27, 1938,
and Edward, born June 10, 1943.
Linwood Seaman, married Frances Schauppe, Dec. 27, 1938. They
have David, born Feb. 12, 1941, Carole, born March 7, 1944, Craig, born
March 7, 1944 (twin with Carole), and Loraine, born July I I, 1946.
Nancy (daughter of Howard) married Robert Bagnall, of Menlo Park,
Cal., July 29, 1944. They have Nancy, born Dec. 29, 1945, Margery, born
Feb. 16, 1949, and Ann, born Jan. 15, 1953.
Lucile (daughter of John Randolph), married Geo. H. Miller, of Beli-
aire, Cal., June 18, 1940. They have Clay L., born March 16, 1942
Randolph, born April 4, 1947, and Jeff cie, born June 9, 1951.
Sally (next daughter of John Randolph) married Roland Hagyard,
June 7, 1947. They have David, born May 22, 1949, and Sally, born Aug.
2, 1951.
Carole (Mitzie), married William R. Wells, Feb. 14, 1946. They have
Wendy L., born Oct. I, 1948, Carole L., born Nov. 4, 1951, and William
R., born Dec. I 7, I 952.
John Randolph II, married Muriel Kahl, June 28, 1944. They have
John Randolph III, born March 14, 1947, and Melinda, born June 30, 1953.
Anne (daughter of Earl Cornelius), married, 1st, Harry F. Wolf, Nov.
22, 1934, and has Harry, Jr., born Dec. 28, 1937. She married, 2nd, Kavin
Cook, Nov. 9, 1951.
102
Jeanne (next daughter of Judge Earl) married Kenneth Linklater, Dec.
31,1 940. No issue.
Earl Cornelius, Jr., married Jane Doyle, April 8, 1945. They have
Katherine Ann, born Jan. 18, 1946, Teresa Ruth, born June 24, 1949,
Jeanne Louise, born Aug. 24, 1950, and Charles Thomas, born May 27,
1952.
All of Chari es and Sedonia Latourette's descendants who have
arrived at maturity, have been good citizens, stood high in the commun¬
ity, and some have reached considerable eminence. Mortimer Dillon was
long a bank president at Oregon City, and then a successful farmer.
Howard Fenton was a successful lawyer in Portland and influential in
politics, having run for Governor of Oregon, and on another occasion, for
the U. S. Senate. John Randolph is a successful lawyer, and he has repre¬
sented Multnomah County in the State Legislature. Earl Cornelius, was a
successful lawyer in Clackamas County, a Judge of the Circuit Court,
and now Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Charles Edward
and Linwood Seaman are popular oil distributors in Clackamas County,
and Linwood has long been active in the Oregon City Chamber of Com¬
merce, and for a considerable time, it's President. John Randolph II, is a
young but successful lawyer in Portland, and at the last election ran for
delegate to the National Convention, State at large. For further data,
see "Who's Who in Oregon."
Lizzie Eliza Latourette, fifth in the family of David and Emma (Booth)
Latourette, born at St. Louis, Mo., May 24, 1856, came to Oregon in
the early ' 80' s after her brother Charles had established himself in the
law business at Oregon City. For a few years she taught school at Oregon
City. Occasionally she made visits, in company with her cousin John Kelly,
to her uncle Lyman's farm, where the writer, (a boy of perhaps 9 or 10)
marveled at her ability to play the piano, accompanied by her cousin who
played the mouth-organ and guitar simultaneously, or cornet. She married
Willi am Warden about 1882 or 3. They established themselves on a ranch
near San Louis Obispo, Cal., (about 150 miles north-west of Los Angeles).
They have had the following:
Alfred LaTourette, born Dec. 17, 1886, died June 30, 1902. No
issue.
Ray Victor, born July 13, 1888, married Sadie Dressier, Aug.
1914. She was born about 1895.
103
Lew Moore, born Oct. 26, 1891, in 1918 married Dorothy Ann
Unanget (born 1896): Two sons, Lew Jr. and Murray.
Howard Fenton, born Sept. 14, 1898, died Aug. 10, 1924, killed
by auto.
Emma Hazel, born Dec. 19, 1899, married Dec. 23, 1923, Sidney
Silvey Gorman (born Sept. 14, 1898). One son, Donald
Howard, born April 21,1 926.
William Homer, born April 22, 1901, married Madeline Peart
(born Aug. 1920). One son, Norman Peart, born Aug. 20,
1933.
Ida Belle, youngest of David and Emma (Booth) Latourette's family,
was born at Fenton, Mich., Aug. 6, 1859. She came west, to Oregon City,
about 1885, and lived for a time with her sister Mary. She married Frank
Donaldson, and they established their residence on the west side of the
Willamette River, near Oregon City. He became Cashier in the Commer¬
cial Bank, about 1897. Later they went to Boston, Mass., v/here he en¬
gaged in life insurance work. They had two children, Lucille, who died un¬
married, and Maurine, who married an electrical engineer named Warren
Burgess, in Boston in 1899. He was in the navy yard electrical service of
the government, and was transferred to Washington, D.C., where they
have been living since. Lucille grew to maturity and became a Presbyterian
missionary in China, where she experienced poor health which reguired
her return to Boston where she died. Frank was married again after Ida ?
death.
104
Chapter XXVII.
LYMAN D. C., AND FAMILY.
Lyman Daniel Cornwall, born May 23,1825, next son after David, of
David and Hannah (Hegeman) LaTourette, was, as soon as he became
adolescent, filled with eagerness to get out on his own career. His name,
Cornwall, excites curiosity because he is the only one of the Latourettes
who is known to have that name. It came from Hannah's sister in New York
City, as explained to the writer's sister Nellie, who got the information
from her Aunt Emeline, when she spent the summer of I 900 in Idaho on the
ranch of Capt. Wooden. When she, Emeline, was a young woman she took
a trip to New York City by the canal boat of her brother John, expressly
to visit two sisters of her mother. One of these sisters had a husband
named Cornwall, which is an old English name having the same origin, per¬
haps, as Cornwall County in the south-western part of England. Aunt
Emeline stated that each of these two sisters of her mother was apparent¬
ly well fixed, for they were well housed, well provided for, and having a
piano, which was rare in those days, and they took her to Opera. Their
names were Katharine Cornwall and Mary Conrad. Lyman D. C. was
sparked by many of the same genes that urged other members of the
family into worth-while enterprises at an early age.
At about 14, having completed the school facilities at Lodi, his
brother John, who, by that time, had acquired a barge and was operating
it to carry freight on Erie Canal gave him a job of driving mules on the
tow path to pull the barge which was equipped with living quarters as
well as space for freight, and John's family (wife and two children) lived
th ere. The job was rather exacting for the mule driver was under the
necessity of watching out for gusts of wind as well as keeping the mules
on the go. There was danger that a sudden wind would force the barge
toward the opposite side of the canal and perhaps draw the mules, boy
and all, into the water, and once it did, in freezing weather. Although he
and the mules scrambled out, as quickly as possible, his clothes were
frozen on him by the time he got into the barge. In this manner, and by
other jobs, he earned enough to put himself through Waterloo Academy,
where he made good grades, learned to play an organ or piano, and to
sing well. He and the principal got on fine, and the latter took him as an
assistant teacher at Sing Sing. He later struck out for himself, heading for
Michigan where two of his sisters were already located.
105
He undertook the trip by foot, although much of the way was wild,
and through woods that were infested with wolves, which would prowl
about camp and steal provisions, if able. It was necessary to keep his bacon
under his coat, which he used for a pillow, and on one occasion a wolf
grabbed both coat and bacon and was about to make off when he awoke
and quickly threw out his hand and hit the wolf, which then dropped the
bacon and coat and ran. He was alone much of the way, though at times
he would be with fellow travelers going as he was, carrying blankets and
provisions, and sleeping on the ground at night.
Arriving in Michigan he visited one or two of his sisters and his
brother, Orange. He got a positon as school teacher, followed teaching a
few years in Michigan. About 1846, he decided to go further west. First
he went south to Fort Wayne (north-eastern part of Indiana), where he
visited his uncle Henry, and then south-west, down the Wabash River to
Covington, where his uncle John had a fine farm. Here he taught school
one or two years, but in the mean time, about 1847, made a trip to see
his father and mother, sister Sarepta, and neighbors about Lodi. His
father, by that time, was in ill health, and living at Mecklenburg; his
youngest sister, Sarepta, had married Dr. Simeon Smith, and had a baby
in arms, Cornelius.
Early in 1848, Lyman D. C. prepared to cross the plains to Oregon.
His health had turned poor from fever and malaria at Covington. He ex¬
perienced the "cold water treatment" which was to get out of bed, go
outside practically naked, and have a pail full of cold water doused on
him from above. It need not be said that the treatment was neither pleas¬
ant nor effective. The fresh air of the plains, however, cured him by this
time he reached Fort Laramie, south-western part of what is now Wyo¬
ming, and about 500 air miles from St. Joseph, west side of Missouri River,
which was the starting point of travel by ox team and prairie scooner.
The trip from Covington to St. Joseph was by steamboat down the Wa¬
bash and Ohio Rivers and up the Mississippi and Missouri. He equipped
himself with a gun, and clothing for three years.
At St. Joseph he obtained a job driving oxen for a Mr. Crooks, who
had three wagons. For driving he got his board, and his trunk hauled. There
were some 100 wagons in the train when it started from St. Jo early in
April. Their line of travel to Oregon City (about I 800 miles) was through
an area mountainous much of the way, and entirely uninhabited, except by
Indians, wild animals, and a few whites at each Fort, of which there were
106
four. Many small streams were to be forded; two rivers (Platte and Snake)
were to be crossed (twice for each, and there was no bridge at any place);
three mountain ranges (Rockies, Blue, and Cascade) were to be crossed,
and the countries of several Indian nations. Enough food to serve until
November or December was necessary, for there was little or no oppor¬
tunity to buy along the way. An Indian war was on in Oregon, by the
white settlers against the Cayuse Indians who had massacred the whites
at Marcus Whitman Mission located near where Walla Walla is now
located; although news of this had not come to St. Jo until after the wagon
train was well on its way. Except for the fact that wagon trains had made
the trip during a few previous years it seemed like walking into the jaws of
death.
The wagon beds were caulked, and fastened tightly to the running
gear so as to permit floating in the deeper streams. At these places the
oxen and other stock were required to swim. Long ropes were provided
for pulling oxen and wagons out of quick sands when stuck, and for letting
wagons down precipitous places, and there are, to this day, scars on trees
near Government Camp, Oregon, which were made by use of ropes (one
end of rope having been hitched to the rear end of the wagon, and a half¬
hitch being taken around the nearest tree, where a man eased oxen and
wagon down the hill). Lyman D. C. had a part in all of the difficulties.
In crossing the Pawnee Indian country, a large band of Indians, armed
with bows and arrows, made at them on horseback, as if to kill, but it
turned out to be their "friendly" way of collecting toll for traveling
through their country. The leader of the train gave them to understand
that about sunset camp would be made and "presents" given. The Indians
rode on ahead, and, at the appointed time and place, they were squatting
on the ground in a circle, all smoking one pipe, one Indian taking one puff
and passing it on to the next, and so around and around. And they had
blankets spread on the ground for receipt of bacon, flour, sugar, articles
of clothing, etc. So each white man brought his "present" and deposited
it on the blankets, whereupon the Indians gravely took up their "toll",
mounted their horses and rode off. When crossing the buffalo district,
the oxen and loose cattle, seemed to sense the wild, and attempt to stam¬
pede. It was then time for the driver to be busy in front lashing them
down. The same was true when approaching a stream at a time when the
oxen were thirsty. On one occasion a nervous woman riding in the front
seat of a wagon arose excitedly and cried "Anchor down the wagons",
107
waving her sunbonnet frantically. Each night the wagons were parked in
a circle so as to afford better protection against Indian attack, and
guards were posted all through the night. Twenty miles were as much as
would be made in one day. Near the west line of what is now Wyoming,
they learned about the discovery of gold in California. Many then took the
California trail. This made the burden of night watching harder for the
remaining men. At the same time they learned of the Cayuse war in Ore¬
gon. Then the night watchers were doubled until they learned that the war
was over and won by the whites. They reached Oregon City Sept. 12.
Within a month Lyman D. C. was teaching at Forest Grove in a school
that was begun in March, by Mrs. Tabitha Brown (lovingly known as Aunt
Tabitha) as a boarding school. He taught until the spring of the following
year. The school continued and was chartered as Tualatin Academy and
Pacific University. Two of his older sons later received their college train¬
ing there, and one of them there fell in love with a girl who graduated in
the same class with him, Ellen Scott, whom he later married.
The gold mines of California lured Lyman D. C. As soon as the term
of school was completed, he sought transportation to San Francisco. It
happened that a ship was in the Willamette River, at Milwaukie, loading
lumber and soon to sail for SF. He engaged transportation and got on at
the appointed time, as did many other men. The result was that the little
ship (sailing vessel) was much overloaded. As it went down the Willamette
and Columbia rivers, all quarters below deck were crowded, and men
were sleeping, by night, above decks among the piles of lumber. The ship
sank in the water to its gunwales. When the ocean waves came in sight,
near the mouth of the Columbia, many demanded to be let off and have
back their fare. The latter, the captain refused, whereupon the men
locked him in his cabin, and ordered the seamen to drop anchor. This was
done, the ship stood at rest, and the captain was without food. He soon
gave in, paid back their money, and sent them to shore. Lyman D. C.,
however, thought that if the captain and seamen could risk the ship on
the ocean, he could too. So he stayed, as many others did. A rough and
perilous passage of 19 days followed, but he reached the mines in time
to get a valuable claim where he dug and rocked sand which yielded gold
amounting to $100 per day. After several rough experiences, including
the near hanging of a man for stealing his camping outfit, he came back to
Oregon in the spring of I 850, by sailing vessel which made the trip in
four days. He brought with him $7000 in gold dust after losing $ I 500, and
purchasing a small stock of goods at San Francisco.
108
He at once opened a store in Oregon City, and did a good business
from the beginning. He was then 24 years of age, and a shaft of Little
Dan Cupid reached his heart by a remark of Aunt Tabitha that she
knew the girl for him, the oldest daughter of Elder Fisher, who had come
to Oregon in 1845, with his family, by ox team and had spent the first
winter on Tuality Plains and then moved to Clatsop Plains. Lyman D. C.
resolved to look her up. Luckily he had not far to look, for her father had
returned from the California mines and moved his family from Clatsop
Plains to Oregon City where she was assisting him in conducting a school.
He wooed and won her, Lucy Jane Grey Fisher (named after Lady
Jane Grey, of England, 1537-1554), born Dec. 10, 1831, at Cambridge,
Vermont, where her father, Rev. Ezra Fisher, held a pastorate in a Baptist
Church. Lyman D. C., and Lucy Jane Grey, were married at Oregon City,
Sept. 27, 1851. In the mean time he had become active in the commun¬
ity, not only as a store owner, but as a city councilman, an active member
and secretary of the Baptist Church, and as a potential farmer. His store
business had expanded, so that he took Mr. F. S. Holland, in partnership,
and later a branch store was opened at Silverton (between Molalla and
Salem). He had also purchased the rights of a man who had built a log
cabin and was living on 640 acres of land adjoining a similar area that
Elder Fisher and his wife had settled on, pursuant to the Donation Land
Claim Act, that Congress passed, Sept. 27, 1850. This tract adjoined the
tract that Dr. John McLoughlin had settled on, and platted as Oregon
City. Lyman D. C. and Lucy Jane Grey, as soon as they were married,
filed on the adjoining 640 acres and began living there, at once, in a new
log cabin that was built, or building. Farming operations were immediately
under way, clearing land, planting fruit and ornamental trees, etc. He
employed the services of a man who worked there continuously. He found
the farm operation so much to his liking that he sold out his store interests
in 1856, and devoted himself entirely to the farm and his family, except
for minor community services such as County Commissioner, school
director of Maple Lane District (so named because of the maple trees
that he had planted and grew along the road in front of his farm), county
road supervisor, and service for the Baptist Church, as Deacon, until the
time of his death, Sept. 24, 1886. He took especial interest in his Sunday
school class of young men. Of him it is written: "One of the main support¬
ers, a steady help, a strong man, steady and earnest for any good work
undertaken by the Oregon City Church, or by the denomination at large,
109
Deacon L. D. C. Latourette stands prominent and conspicuous." (Baptist
Annals of Oregon, by Rev. C. H. Mattoon.)
In 1864 he helped Oregon City merchants, and others, organize the
Oregon City Woolen Mill Co., and was one of its first stockholders. After
a few years the Jacobs Brothers bought all of the stock. The mill continues
to this day. He was a shareholder in the Oregon City Fruit Dryer which
was built on the river side of Main Street opposite the Congregational
Church. This was in the '70's, but the building still stands. He died from
blood poisoning caused by a broken leg resulting from a runaway team
and being thrown from the wagon.
He was twice married, first as above stated, and second to Ann
Eliza Fisher, sister of Lucy Jane who died Jan. 25, 1864, caused by child
birth and scarlet fever at the time. Ann Eliza had come from The Dalles,
for a visit at Albany and Oregon City, but upon learning of her sister's
condition went to the farm and helped take care of Jane whose baby was
dead at birth, and who, before her death, requested Ann Eliza to take
care of the three young children who had been born on the dates indi¬
cated below.
Ann Eliza, born at Quincy, III., Sept. 12, 1839, educated at Oregon
City and Corvallis, taught schools in the vicinity of Albany, Salem, and
The Dalles, until the summer of 1861, when she helped her father and step¬
mother (Mrs. Amelia Millard, a woman of extraordinary Christian char¬
acter, whom the children and grandchildren loved to the time of her death,
years after Rev. Ezra's death, Nov. I, 1874), move to a small farm near
The Dalles, where she and her younger sister, Sarah Josphine, had already
begun to follow a mercantile enterprise m women's hats and clothing, under
the direction of Mrs. O'Rourk, who was engaged in that business. Ann
Eliza was appalled by the death of her sister, Lucy Jane, by concern for
the welfare of the three young children, and the problem of caring for
them without giving up the enterprise that she and her sister Josie (as
this sister was affectionately called by her relatives and friends), were
fostering. She resolved, however, to carry out the wish, if possible, of her
sister, Lucy Jane. She, therefore, began caring for the three young
children. They loved her dearly, and she loved them, and, after some time,
it came about that she and Lyman D. C. loved each other, although she
did not like country life, and he did not like city life. Their date of mar¬
riage was June 25, 1864, and her father performed the ceremony. They
lived on the farm until after his death. In the mean time, five children were
born to them, and the children of the two families loved each other as if
they were all of the same mother. The two families were as follows:
Willard Howard, born Aug. 7, 1852, died Nov. 14, 1911.
Lucy Adelaide, born Sept. 26, 1854, unmarried, died Nov. 25,
1872.
De Witt Clinton, born Nov. 14, 1856, died May 21, 1937.
Nina Ann, born Jan. 15, 1870, died March 2, 1893.
Lyman Ezra, born Nov. 6, 1872.
Nellie Edith, born March 24, I 877.
Edward Everett, born Dec. 14, 1879.
Lucy Alfreda, born Apr. 2, 1883.
Marriages:
Willard Howard, married May 18, 1881, Carrie Augusta Todd,
born July 13,1 857.
De Witt Clinton, married Oct. 25, 1882, Ellen Scott, born Nov.
4, 1855.
Nina Ann, married May 25, 1892, John F. Clark, of Dallas, Ore.
Edward Everett, married May 3, I 902, Minnie C. Meyer, of Ore¬
gon City.
Lyman Ezra, married April 17, 1912, Lillie M. Hunt, Portland, Or.
Lucy Alfreda, married July 5, 1922, John D. Stewart.
Lyman D. C., Lucy Jane Grey, Ann Eliza, Lucy Adelaide, and Nina
Ann, are buried in the cemetery lot of Lyman D. C., Mountain View, Ore¬
gon City, also his mother, Hannah Hegeman, and his wife's mother, Lucy
(Taft), daughter of Timothy Taft and Abigail. She was born March 21,
1805. (The Fisher Genealogy, Descendants of Joshua, Anthony and Cor¬
nelius Fisher, of Dedham, Mass., has been prepared and published by
Philip A. Fisher, Everett, Mass.; Mass. Publishing Co., 1898). The above
data of births, marriages and deaths, are from the Family Bible of Lyman
D. C., as it has been continued since his death. The other data are from
the memory of the writer as he heard his father relate the events, and from
letters that were written about the time.
Hannah Sarepta, born Aug. 9, 1826, was the youngest, who grew to
maturity, of David and Hannah (Hegeman) Latourette's children. The
Family Bible gives the name as Hannas S., but by her sisters and brothers,
she was spoken of as Sarepta, and so, too, by her husband, Dr. Simeon
Smith, whom she married about 1844. No record of this date has come
to the knowledge of this writer and noted, although, when a boy, he often,
with his father, visited them, and after her death he often visited Dr. Sim¬
eon. The name, Sarepta, is also unknown to the family of Latourettes, ex¬
cept in her case. Her mother was a great Bible reader, and apparently
took the name from St. Luke, 4:26, where it is said "But unto none of them
was Elias sent save one Sarepta . . . ". The year of 1844 is taken as the
date of marriage, because in I 873, Dr. Simeon wrote to Lyman D. C., that
their son, Cornelius, was grown, doing well as a physician and married to
a lady, also a physician, although he was a baby lying by his mother's side
when he (Lyman D. C.) saw them last. That was in 1847 or 1848, before
Lyman D. C. started to Oregon. The same letter refers also to Uncle
Abram and his wife as still living. The letter was written from Alpine, N.Y.,
a place near Mecklenburg. Dr. Simeon also mentions 26 years before as
the time he last saw Lyman D. C. Dr. Simeon, Sarepta, son Dr. Cornelius,
and his wife, came to Oregon within a few years after the date of the let¬
ter. They all located in East Portland (now a part of Portland). Cornelius'
wife, Ella, died in East Portland. He later married and practiced at Eagle
Creek (about 30 miles south-east of Portland). He had no child by his first
wife. By his second, he had a son, Simeon, who grew to manhood. He is re¬
ported as being a druggist in Idaho. Dr. Simeon and Sarepta lived in Port¬
land until death. They were buried in Mt. View Cemetery, Oregon City
near the lot of Lyman D. C.
Chapter XXVIII.
DESCENDANTS OF LYMAN D. C. LATOURETTE
Willard H oward Latourette was the first of Lyman D. C.'s family.
He was born Aug. 7, 1852, in the log cabin, erected by his father, three
miles east of Oregon City. He was educated in the local public school,
Tualatin Academy and Pacific University at Forest Grove, Oregon, where
he received the degree of B.S., and afterwards at the Baptist Theological
Seminary at Rochester, N.Y. After his college degree he taught public
schools in southern Oregon and northern California, I 874 to I 876. At this
time he felt called to the ministry.
At Rochester he became acquainted with Carrie Todd who resided
wi th her parents near Rochester. She and her folks were Baptists. After
graduating from the Seminary, he was called as pastor of a Baptist
Church, at Clyde, N.Y., about forty miles north of Lodi, where his grand¬
father David Latourette had spent most of his life. A year was spent at
Clyde. He married Carrie Todd soon after graduating in 1881.
He continued in Christian Service, as Field Officer of the American
Baptist Mission Society in Southern California; resided at Los Angeles two
years; was called to Los Gatos, as Pastor of the Baptist Church there, and
continued as Pastor more than a year, when he was appointed as General
Missionary of Northern California, (and part of the time covering Nevada,
also). He continued in this service fifteen years, residing at East Oakland
and in Alameda. He then experienced poor health, moved his family to
McMinnville, Oregon, in order to give his children a Christian education.
After recuperating he worked for two years as financial agent of the
College (now Linfield). He then (in I 898) received appointment from the
Missionary Society to serve as general missionary in Alaska with head¬
quarters in Juneau. His family remained at McMinnville. Aside from his
usual missionary service he assisted in expelling "Soapy" Smith, who was
a notorious specimen in Juneau of the underworld.
Willard H. Latourette discontinued his missionary service after about
two years in Alaska and spent the remainder of his life with his family at
McMinnville. He here engaged in real estate work and civic service for
the welfare of the community. He died November 14, 1911.
Of him it has been written: "In most parts of the Pacific Coast there
will be members of our churches who feel that in his death they have lost
a personal friend." (Pacific Baptist, p. 28, Nov. 23, 191 I).
The children born to himself and Carrie were:
Carrie P., born Jan. 12, 1886, died May, 1888,
Ethel Adelaide, born Feb. 12, 1884, died Jan. 16, 1911,
Beulah S., born Jan. 12, 1886, living; married Horace Walter,
June 13,1 908,
Susie Ruth, born May 22, 1887, married Will P. Walter, April
1910; died Aug. I 949.
Lyman Todd, born Nov. 25, 1894; married Hazel Range, of
Newberg, Oregon.
Carrie P. died of diptheria. Ethel Adelaide was educated in the pub¬
lic schools and McMinnville College, graduating in the class of 1903; B. M.
degree. She married Arthur Harlow who had attended McMinnville Col¬
lege. They resided for a time in Portland; then at Woodburn, Oregon,
where he became an undertaker. Their son, Lyman Harlow, was born in
Portland, April 6, 1908; their daughter, Helen, was born in Woodburn,
Dec. I, 1910. Ethel was buried at McMinnville. Arthur later moved to
Bellingham, Wash., where he continued the undertaking business, having
married Adna P. Raley. They later separated, Lyman going with his father,
and Helen staying with Adna, who gave her a musical education. Arthur
later died at Astoria, Oregon. His son, Lyman, upon coming to maturity,
married, 1st, Virgina Armstrong, in August 1931. They have a daughter,
Virginia, born Jan. 7, 1933. Lyman married, 2nd, Bonnie Wescott, Aug. 29,
1940. They have Arthur Lincoln, born June 10, 1941. All live in Portland.
Beulah S., and Horace Walter, had children, Willard, Dorothy and
Mary Alice. They lived at McMinnville where Beulah and Horace were
married. Horace followed real estate and politics. They moved to Corval¬
lis, where domestic differences arose, resulting in a separation and divorce.
Beulah devoted herself faithfully to the children and saw to it that they
got an education. Eventually Horace and Beulah were re-married and they
have since had a happy life at Areata, Cal., both devoting themselves to
a successful real estate business, church and community service, and en¬
joying the successes of their children who have grown to maturity, and, in
turn, have families of their own.
Susie Ruth, and Will P. Walter, had no child gf their own. When
living in Portland, they adopted a baby whom they named Charles. Will
followed Y.M.C.A. work with youth. In this service he met outstanding
success both in Portland and in Los Angeles. Susie Ruth's health was poor
during much of their married life. She died in Los Angeles. Charles grew
to maturity, married and has one child.
Lyman Todd Latourette and Hazel (Range) had two children, Char¬
lotte and Lyman. Charlotte was born Sept. 24, 191 8, married John Edward
Laing, March 16, 1939. They are in the nursery (ornamental) business, near
Portland. Lyman Jr., was born Aug. 14, 1923. He was educated in the
public schools of Portland, and had two years in Oregon State College,
at Corvallis. During World War li, he was in the Timber Wolf Division, U.
S. Army, and was instantly killed by a bursting shell, while fighting near
Breda, Holland (about 35 miles north-east of Antwerp, Belgium). He is
buried in the U. S. Military Cemetery, near Liege, Belgium. His death
was Nov. I, 1944. He was not married.
Lyman Todd and Hazel Latourette, have lived in Portland, practically
all of th e time since their marriage June 20, 1916. Both have been ener¬
getic and successful in a business way as well as maintaining a home,
caring for and educating their children. He has been continuously in cler¬
ical and executive service for the Portland General Electric Co., and she
as an off ice manager.
Lucy Adelaide, the second child of Lyman D. C. and Lucy Jane Lat¬
ourette, was born Sept. 25, 1854. She was educated in the public school,
Maple Lane District, Clackamas County, and at St. Helen's Hall (a school
for young women) in Portland, Ore. While attending school at the latter
place she contracted a bad cold which settled on her lungs. She at once
went home, where she received the best of care, but in a few days, died
of pneumonia, Nov. 25, I 872. She was an attractive young lady, a member
of the Baptist Ch urch, at Oregon City, and loved by all who came to
know her.
DeWitt Clinton, the next one in the family of Lyman D. C. and Lucy
Jane, was locally educated, attended Pacific University at Forest Grove,
as did his older brother. He graduated in the spring of 1878, with the
degree of A.B. In the fall of that year he was engaged as Professor of
Mathematics at McMinnville College, where he continued for two years,
developed the thought of becoming a lawyer, and read law to a limited
extent. The next two years were spent in the law office of Johnson &
McCown (William Carey Johnson and F. O. McCown), an old and well
established firm of lawyers in Clackamas County, the former being a son
115
of Rev. Hezekiah Johnson, who had come, with his family, in I 845, by ox
team. D. C., while pursuing his law studies, boarded part of the time with
his Aunt Emeline Bergen, and lived at his father's farm (three miles from
town) part of the time, walking to and fro. He took and passed the bar
examination in 1882, and then entered into partnership with Charles D.
Latourette, who had come to Oregon from Fentonville, Mich., as previous¬
ly stated. They made a good team in both legal and banking business,
DeWitt Clinton being president of the bank from its inception to about
the time the partnership was dissolved, and his interest sold to Mortimer
Latourette, son of Charles D.
D. C. then continued the law business under his own name. His son-in-
law, Homer E. Hollowell, was associated with him in the business of loans,
brokerage, fire insurance and collections. This activity continued until the
time of D. C.'s death, May 20, 1937.
On Oct. 23, 1882, he had married Ellen Scott, at Forest Grove. She
was a daughter, born near Olympia, Wash., Nov. 4, I 855, of John Tucker
and Ruth (Eckler) Scott, who were pioneers to Oregon, by ox team, in I 852,
settling first in Yamhill County, Oregon, then near what is now Olympia,
Wash., where Ellen was born, and finally near Forest Grove, Oregon, where
he died. His widow, with Ellen and her brother, Charles, moved into Forest
Grove, where Ellen attended Pacific University, and graduated in the
same class with DeWitt Clinton Latourette. Harvey Whitfield Scott (her
half-brother, and for many years afterwards editor of The Oregonian) was
the first graduate.
D. C. and Ellen were well mated for they were much interested in
religious work, and especially in missionary service. They joined in all of
the Baptist Church services at Oregon City, and they joined, each Sunday
afternoon, in conducting mission services in communities not far from
Oregon City. Their home was a model of comfort and convenience. He
was a deacon of the church, and Treasurer of McMinnville College, and
she was a leader in foreign missions, choir and Sunday School service. He
died suddenly and unexpectedly from heart failure, May 20, 1937. He is
buried in Mt. View Cemetery, adjoining the lot of Lyman D. C. Ellen died
Aug. 26, 1943, and was buried by his side.
Further data is given in "Who's Who for Oregon, 1936-1938". Their
children were:
Kenneth Scott, born Aug. 9, 1884.
Carrol Clinton, born Aug. 4, 1888; died March 14, 1889.
Lucy Ruth, born March 27, 1890, died Dec. 16, 1941.
Perrin Lyman, born June 9, 1892, died by drowning, Aug. 1902.
Dorothy E., born July 30, 1896, married Sept. 10, 1919.
Kenneth Scott Latourette inherited from both his father and
mother, traits and genes which have already carried him far along the way
of Christian service and efforts for a higher and better world civilization.
From near childhood he displayed an interest in such matters. Lack of
Christian knowledge and civilization presented a special challenge. He ac¬
cepted the challenge and dedicated himself, as did the Apostle Paul, to an
untiring task of bettering conditions by disclosing to leaders in western
thought, a knowledge of Oriental thought, and steps to be taken in an ef¬
fort to divert Oriental thought into better channels, a civilization based on
The Golden Rule.
He was educated in the Oregon City schools, McMinnville College
(now Linfield), Yale University, and very wide reading, travels and observa¬
tion. His attainments, the many books that he has written, his teaching in
China and in this country, and his lectures through America, and to some
extent in Europe, are so well covered by "Who is Who in America" and in
encyclopedias, that they will not be recounted here. Recent recognition
of his meritorious service was his election as President of the North Amer¬
ican Baptist Convention, and a degree from Marburg University, Germany
as Doctor of Science of Religion. He, like Apostle Paul again, has been so
earnest in his work that he has not spared the time for love and matrimony.
He has acquired the family home in Oregon City, improved and maintain¬
ed it in substantially as good condition as when his parents died, and each
summer he spends one or more months residing there, taking some recrea¬
tion in visiting old friends and scenes, giving one or more lectures, and
writing additional books. He has retired as Professor, but continues head¬
quarters at Yale.
Lucy Ruth, the next child after Kenneth Scott, was educated in the
public schools of Oregon City, and McMinnville College, where she ob¬
tained the degree of Bachelor of Science with the class of 1911. She fol¬
lowed with a four year course in the Osteopathic College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Los Angeles, Cal., where she obtained her degree of D.O.
(Doctor of Osteopathy). Feb. 14, 1917, she married Dr. W. Ross Eaton,
who in 1916 had obtained his M.D. degree from the University of Mich¬
igan, at Ann Arbor. They opened and conducted their offices together in
Oregon City, and so continued until her death caused by coronary throm¬
bosis, Dec. 16, 1941. She is buried in the Eaton lot, Mt. View Cemetery,
Oregon City. She left one child, Wilma Ruth, born October 25, I 922, mar¬
ried William Richey Hogg, Dec. I 9, I 950. She was educated in the Oregon
City school and Linfield College, graduating May 14, 1944, took her M.D.
course at Oregon State Medical School, graduating June 18, 1948, with
M.D. degree. She practiced in Portland, prior to marriage, and then in New
Jersey at Overlook Hospital, Cedar Grove, until July, 1951, when she
experienced an attack of hepatitis which necessitated a complete rest for
a year. This required a postponement of teaching at Leonard Theological
Seminary, at Jabalpur, India. Dr. Wilma Hogg was to teach hygiene and
Dr. Richie Hogg was to teach in the Theological Seminary. Dr. Wilma
recovered her health, and, in 1952, they proceeded to Jabalpur.
Dorothy E., the youngest of D. C. and Ellen Latourette's children, was
educated in the Oregon City schools and one year in McMinnville College.
She took more to business than to higher education; helped her father
manage his property and kept his books. Sept. I 0th, 1919, she married
Homer E. Hollowell (born May 12, 1891), who was a school friend, and
later engaged in bookkeeping. Mr. Hollowell and her father became as¬
sociated in business together, as above stated, and, after the death of
D. C., Homer continued the business, except the legal part, and was very
helpful in getting D. C.'s business and property affairs administered. Their
children are Homer Errol, Jr., born July 24, 1920, and Alan Latourette
Hollowell, born May I 3, I 927. Both were educated in the Public and High
Schools of Oregon City, and graduated from the University of Oregon
in business administration. Errol served 4'/? years in Air Corps, with rank
of First Sergeant, at Air Field, Spokane, Wash., and at Okinawa where his
outfit constructed the Kadina Airfield. He is now supervisor in the Credit
Department of Meier & Frank (department store, Portland). May I 3, I 944,
he married Veronica Ann Radosvich. Their children are Kathleen Joanne,
born Dec. 14, 1948, and Marianne, born Jan. 4, 1952.
Alan, during the war, was for about two years, in the Navy Reserves,
stationed at Treasure Island, near San Francisco. While in school he was
transferred to Army Reserve Officers Training Corps, and received a com¬
mission of Second Lieutenant. Sept. 3, 1950, he married Carol Gay Bartel,
born Dec. 25, 1924. No child. Alan is now in the U. S. National Bank, Loan
Department, in training.
Nina Ann Latourette, the first child of Lyman D. C.'s second family,
born Jan. 15, 1870, was of a very pleasant disposition. She became a
member of the First Baptist Church, of Oregon City, at an early age, was
educated in Maple Lane District School, and McMinnville College (now
Linfield), and Business College in Portland. She was a wonderful help to
her mother upon and after the death of her father, when she was seven¬
teen. At college she became acquainted with John F. Clark, who was one
of the earliest graduates (1888), after which he engaged in the sale of
farm machinery at Dallas, Oregon. They were married May 25, 1892, and
made their home at Dallas. She contracted enteric (typhoid) fever because
of poor sanitary conditions, and died March 2, 1893. She was interred
in Lyman D. C.'s Mt. View Cemetery lot, Oregon City.
Lyman Ezra Latourette, first son of Lyman D. C.'s second family,
writer of these annals, born Nov. 6, 1872, on the farm three miles east
of Oregon City, has had an uneventful life, a life of continuous and joyful
work. Without being blessed with special mental or intellectual ability, he
has, by applying himself through long hours and persistently following his
objectives, won some measure of success. The long hours and persistency
have not been drudgery. A goal has always been in view; difficulties have
been challenges, and joy has been experienced in overcoming them.
Whatever success he has achieved will not be recounted for it is briefly
stated in "Who is Who in Oregon, 1934-1936; 1942-1944," and "Who is
Who on the Pacific Coast."
He has been a firm believer in just laws, honestly administered and
enforced; the American system of representative government as the best
type thus far achieved in the process of evolution; the Christian religion as
the best form of religion that the world has known, and the Golden Rule as
the best precept to which individuals can cling.
April 17, 1912, he married Lillie May Hunt, born Sept. 27, 1878,
daughter of George W. Hunt who was from New York, and a railroad
builder, and operator, during the latter part of last century. Her mother
was Leonora Gaylord Hunt. She was of Huguenot descent. Lillie May
died Dec. 23, 1938. No children were born to Lyman E. and Lillie May,
but they had by adoption Frances Helen, born Oct. 7, 1916, and John
(Jack) Gaylord, born Oct. 30, 1922. Frances Helen married Charles Lou
Hamilton, who is now a police officer in Portland. They have Shirley Lou,
born Oct. 15, 1936, and Jack Gary, born Sept. 16, 1944.
John G. is now in the Police Service of Portland (fingerprinting). He
joined the Navy, Oct. 30, 1-940. His first thirteen months were training on
U.S.S. Craven (destroyer), in China, Philippines, Indo-China and India; Dec.
7, 1941, serving on Battleship Oklahoma when bombed by Japanese in
Pearl Harbor and sunk; May 5-7, 1942, in Battle of Midway, flew as waist
gunner on a plane which sunk four Japanese ships (one a destroyer); Aug.
7, 1942, attached to U. S. First Marine Raider Battalion; landed on Guad¬
alcanal in first of U. S. island invasions; in May, 1943, detached from
Marines; at Pearl Harbor attached to Fleet Air Wing 2; trained as en¬
listed pilot to fly four-engine bombers; in August returned to Guadalcanal
and up to Jan., I 944, flew I 87 combat missions in South Pacific; Jan. I 945,
returned to U. S.; in March assigned to training duty in preparation for
island assaults; August attached to Fifth Division; landed on Tinian,
Marianas, taken in four days; Sept, in Second Division, landed on Islands
of Pelellu, taken in eight days; returned to Tinian; Nov. in Fifth Division,
landed on Iwo Jima, taken in five days; May 1945, Marine Sixth Division,
landed at Okinawa; August, War ended; remaining time of service to Nov.
I I, in U. S. and Guam; July 3, 1947, joined Portland Police Force; March
16, 1948, married Billie Maxine Derr; daughters, Janeece Diane, born
Aug. 13, 1951, and Judith Ann, born March 10, 1953.
Nellie E. Latourette, second daughter of Lyman D. C.'s second fam¬
ily, was born, as others, on the Maple Lane farm. She was very bright as
a child, and has been so since. Studies in the lower grades and in college
were easy for her, except mathematics. She was especially good in music,
which she took as an extra, aside from her regular studies, at McMinnville
College, where she graduated in the class of I 897. She then spent one
year in the University of California. Her health becoming poor, for a time,
she did some writing and further study of music (piano), and then taught
at Coos County Academy, in Coquille, Oregon. Wishing to fit herself
better for teaching, she studied piano with a teacher who had been a
pupil of Leschetizky, in Austria. She later opened a studio in Portland
where she taught for some years. When her mother became ill from age,
she cared for her until her death, Feb. I 1, 1924 (85 years of age).
Nellie and the writer have lived together much of the time since the
death of his wife. She has applied herself to house-keeping and some
writing. She previously did a large part of editing the Correspondence
of the Reverend Ezra Fisher" whose name is among those which embellish
a dome in the State Capitol Building. He assisted in organizing many
Baptist churches in Oregon, including First Baptist .Church of Portland,
of which Nellie is among the older members.
120
Edward Everett, the next one of the family, followed the same
course as to schooling. The gold mines at and about Nome, Alaska, allured
him so much that in 1899 he, with some friends at McMinnville, spent the
summer an d fall mushing the tundra and prospecting in Alaska, but without
success. However he achieved a fair knowledge of mineral bearing rocks
and an attachment for prospecting and mining which has prevailed to
the present time (Dec. 1953). He has been interested in farming also,
located a homestead near Kettle Falls, Washington, and farmed for some
years until it became apparent that his farm lands would be flooded by
Grand Coulee Dam in the Columbia River. In the mean time he was mar¬
ried, May 30, 1902, to Minnie Caroline Meyer, of Oregon City, and they
have the following:
Janet Nelfreda, born Aug. 29, 1904, at Oregon City, married
Ralph Harold,
Everett Meyer, born Sept. II, 1909, at Kettle Falls, married
Evelyn Santee,
Nina Lou, born May 16, 1913, at Kettle Falls, married C. Frank
Trullinger, a Spanish-American War veteran.
Edward Everett and Minnie at first resided at Nespelem, Wash.,
immediately after marriage. He there worked mining claims which he
expected to become profitable at an early date. When this lagged he
took up the homestead above mentioned. His uncle, F. W. H. (Wayland)
Fisher, had followed mining near Kettle Falls and Republic (north half of
what had been The Colville Indian Reservation). Disappointments at Kettle
Falls, resulted in domestic friction, separation and divorce. Everett then
began developing an eighty-acre tract of timber land that he had acguired
near Forest Grove, Ore., and at the same time working, as able, on his
mining claims at Nespelem, Wash. His timber land has turned out to be
profitable and he expects, with the income from it, to prove the worth
of his mining claims at Nespelem. He was engaged in removing and selling
timber from the land until Dec. 1943, when he had a slight stroke which
is keeping him under the care of a physician at Stayton, Oregon.
Janet Nelfreda, first child of Everett and Minnie, was educated in
the Public schools and High School of Portland and the State Normal
School at Monmouth, where she gualified herself for teaching. She taught
schools afterwards in several different places in Oregon, including Stayton
where she met Ralph Harold to whom she was married. She then settled
down to home making until their children had mostly come to maturity,
121
when she resumed teaching and still continues. She takes great interest in
the work although she now has grandchildren. The family of Janet and
Ralph consists of:
Veril, born May 5, I 928, married Sept. 4, I 950, Angeline Armella
Hartman, now living at Lomita, Cal. He works in an air
plane plant. They have Cynthia Denise, born July 10, 1952,
and Richie Ralph, born Dec. 14, 1953.
Melba Arlene, born April 16, 1931, married Tracy Allen Hunter,
Aug. 20, 1948. They live at Montrose, Cal., and he works at
Nichols Mfg. Co., Glendale. They have Terese Lanette,
born Oct. 6, 1953.
Nelda Marie, (twin of Nina Elise), married Blynn Harry Hum¬
phries, June II, 1949. They reside at Stayton, and he
works there. They have Lynn Roger, born March 17, 1949,
and Scott Alex., born Feb. 2, 1953.
Nina Elise, born June 2, 1932, married Ernest Leffler, June I,
1950. They reside at Stayton, and he works there. They
have Steven Randall, born March 17, 1951, and Sandra
Marie, born July I, 1953.
Darrel, born Sept. I, 1933, single, in military service.
Everett Meyer Latourette, son of Edward Everett and Minnie, born
as above stated, was educated in the country school near Kettle Falls,
Wash., and in High School at Kettle Falls. When the farming operation
broke down Everett Meyer was about 17. He, with his mother and sister
Nina, went to Oregon City, where he obtained employment with the
City as caretaker and manager, at the Oregon City water headworks near
Estacada along the South Fork of Clackamas River. He and his mother
established their home there until after he married Evelyn Santee, about
1930. He and Evelyn have three boys who were born at the headworks.
They are Douglas, born April 11,1 933, Gary, born June 9, I 936, and Bevan
Ralph, born Sept. I, 1937. Everett and Evelyn became interested in a
milk-goat project having headquarters near Ashland, Va. Evelyn went
there and assisted the editor of a journal devoted to dairy goats. Everett
remained at the Oregon City Headworks, as manager of the water supply.
Estrangement and a divorce followed. Everett married again and estab¬
lished a home in Estacada, which is near the Headworks. Evelyn returned
to Oregon and has established her home near her father's, in Portland.
The boys were with her in Virginia. Douglas has reached maturity and is
122
in the U. S. Military service, located at Stuttgart, Germany. He hopes to
become a lawyer and expert accountant. The other boys are with their
mother devoting themselves to their education.
Nina Lou, youngest daughter of Edward Everett and Minnie, was
educated in the public school near Kettle Falls, at Salem public schools,
University of Oregon Extension service in Portland, and business college
in Portland, thoroughly fitting herself for office service and management.
This she has followed to the present time (1952), now holding the position
of office manager, U.S. Gov't. Agricultural Department, Portland. She
was married to Frank (C. F.) Trullinger. They have their home in Portland.
No child.
Lucy Alfreda, the youngest of Lyman D. C.'s and Ann Eliza's family,
was born on the Maple Lane Farm, but her father died when she was four
years old. At McMinnville she was educated in the public school and two
years in McMinnville College; then in the Conservatory of Music, Univer¬
sity of Pacific (College Park, near San Jose). Here she took piano and
voice, and graduated with the degree of B.M. She continued with voice
six months longer, being with her mother. In Portland, she did office work,
took training for nurse, studied French and stenography, until she married
John David Stewart (born 1872, Scotch descent on the side of his father;
Irish and Dutch on the side of his mother). John and Freda made their home
at Multnomah, Ore., (near Portland). He was in the employ of Oregon
Electric Railway Co., as Station Agent at Multnomah. In 1930 they
moved to Maple Lane Farm and operated it as a dairy for three years.
They then built on land which she had inherited from her father. Here
they operated Stewart Cardens, specializing in bulbs, until 1943, when
they moved to Oregon City. There they have continued their bulb business
in a small way and cared for the home of Dr. Kenneth Scott Latourette, the
home which his father and mother built and occupied until both were dead.
John and Freda are members of the First Baptist Church of Oregon City,
and faithful workers there.
123
Chapter XXVIII.
JOHN AND SARAH (SCHENK) LATOURETTE,
OF COVINGTON, IND., AND DESCENDANTS
The statistical and other data of this family and many of the descend¬
ants, has been prepared by Mrs. Katherine Young (one of the grand¬
daughters). It is so complete that it will be given in her own words, for the
most part, as follows:
"I have a certified copy of John La Tourette's will (Fountain County,
I nd .) , Fred LaTourette, son of Schuyler La Tourette, owns the old home¬
stead, also the Family Bible of John and Sarah Schenck La Tourette. It
gives all dates of birth of the La Tourette children and some deaths. All
of them were married in Fountain Co., I nd . , except Garrett, who married
in Tippicanoe County, Indiana. Most of them are buried in Mt. Hope
Cemetery, Covington, Fountain Co., Ind.
Children of John and Sarah Schenck La Tourette:
(1) Garrett, born Sept. 23, 1817, Ohio; died Dec. 2, 1851; married
(before 1846) Margaret Ann Sherry (died Fairfield, Iowa, May 19,
1902, buried Shellberg, Benton County, Iowa). Garrett died Dec. 2,
1851, buried Weaver Cemetery, near West Point, Ind. Three chil¬
dren: Montgomery, Henry, and Sarah. (All married and had
children).
(2) John, born Feb. 16, I 8 1 9, Germantown, Montgomery County, Ohio;
married June 9, 1840, Fountain County, Ind., Eliza Bogart (born Pa.
1815); died Feb. 17, 1902, buried, Greenwood Cemetery, Musca¬
tine, Iowa; one son, Wilbert (born Fountain Co., Ind., May 25, 1841,
died June I, 1919; he had three sons, John David, Arthur James,
and Wi Met Joseph, no issue; John, three daughters; Arthur, two
daughters.
(3) Elizabeth, born Nov. 28, 1820, Germantown, Ohio, married Dec. 17,
1837, Levi Crane; married 2nd, Kyle (no issue); died Feb. 10, 191 I,
Champaign Co., III.; buried Quaker Cemetery, near Sellers, III.; born
(by Crane) 8 children: Emeline, Albian (in Civil War), Sarah Crane,
Charlotte, Ida Ann, Ella, John and William Crane; latter two and
families, went to Oregon in early day.
(4) William, born, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1822; died Fountain Co., Ind., Dec. 5,
1837, age 15 years.
(5) Sarah, born, Ohio, June 18, 1824, died June 4, 1914, buried Mt.
Hope Cemetery, Covington, Ind.; coverlet weaver. No issue.
Married John VanCickle, June 4, 1870.
124
(6) Ann, born, March I, 1826, in Ohio, died Jan. 4, 1911, Miller
Cemetery, Parke Co., married, 1850, Fountain Co., I nd . , John
Bright; 5 children: Charles K.; Elizabeth (Hadley); Sally (Meade);
Clayton; Margaret, died young.
(7) Ellen, born Feb. 10, 1828, Ohio, (her name spelt, in Bible, Elenn;
called Nellie), died Fountain Co., I nd ., Feb. 10, 1898, buried Miller
Cemetery, Parke Co., I nd . ; married March 21, 1846, Alfred Good¬
en. Children: Clara, Monroe, Garrett (all married, had children).
(8) Mary, born April 30, 1830, near Covington, Fountain Co., I nd .,
died May 20, 1903, Terra Haute, Ind. Buried Miller Cemetery, near
Silverwood, Ind. Married, Oct. 22, 1849, William Sheldon Hansford
(2nd wife); 5 children: (a) Charles Morris, (b) William Sheldon, (c)
Mary Jane, (d) Franklin, (e) Nellie. Chas. died infant (buried in
Calif.); William S., Mary J., and Nellie, married and had children.
(9) Henry, born Fountain Co., Ind., June 24, 1832, died Tin Cup, Gunni¬
son Co., Colo., Jan. 22, 1892, buried Mt. Hope Cemetery; married
Fountain Co., Ind., Oct. 28, 1862, to Elizabeth Cooper; children:
Lottie (Bodine), Cortney (died infant), John (born 1870), George,
Charles, Nellie (born 1880 died 1882). All married and had children,
except those who died in infancy.
(10) Schuyler, born, Fountain Co., Ind., Aug. 24, 1834, died Mar. 23,
1926, in Fountain Co., Ind. Married March 29, 1863, Catherine
Cooper (sister of Elizabeth); one son, Fred La Tourette, born Mar.
23, 1884, (4 children, all married and have children).
(11) Oliver, born, Ind. Jan. 9, 1837, died Dec. 13, 1893, buried Miller
Cemetery, Silverwood, Ind. (Parke Co.). Married Mary Dowell, no
issue.
(12) Joseph, born Ind. July 20, 1830, died Nov. 21, 1839.
(13) Cortenius (also called Charles), born Dec. 12, 1840, Ind., died Nov.
23, 1912, in Topeka, Kan., buried Mt. Hope Cemetery, Covington,
Ind. Married 1872, Topeka, Kans., to Emma Curtis (an aunt of ex¬
vice-president Chas. Curtis). No issue.
(14) Susan, born, La Tourette homestead, Fountain Co., Ind. (as all her
brothers and sisters, who were born in Ind.) Aug. 28, 1842, (only one
born in brick house her father built, others in log house). Died July
14, 1914, near Silverwood, Ind., Parke Co., married, Fountain Co.,
Ind., Jan. I , I 860, John La T. Clickener; 6 children, 2 died in infancy;
all dead now (1954) except my mother Annie Gallagher (she was
only one who married).
"John and Sarah Schenck La Tourette have 4 grandchildren living,
as follows: Sally Meade (daughter of Ann La T. Bright) born ?; Annie
Gallagher (daughter of Susan La T. Clickener) born May 21, 1864; John
125
La Tourette (son of Henry La Tourette) born Aug. 6, 1870; Fred La Tour-
ette (son of Schuyler La Tourette) born Mar. 23, 1884."
Mrs. Katherine Young gives additional data about her mother, Annie
B. Clickener Gallagher, as follows:
"Annie B. Clickener born Chambersburg, Fountain Co., I nd . , May
21, 1864, married, Tin Cup, Colo. (Gunnison County), Samuel Phillips
Gallagher, born near Maghera, Londondery Co., Ireland, Sept. 2, 1852,
son of Thomas and Rose Phillips Gallagher, died Tin Cup, Colo., July 9,
1906. Their children:
(1) Katherine Sarah, born May 12, 1895, Tin Cup, Colo. Married May
12, 1916, Veedersburg, I nd . , John Ray Young:
(a) Mary Katherine, born Sept. 29, 1917, married, 1st, Cleon E.
Hays, son Ross, born Parke Co., Ind. 2nd, Sanford G. Boraker.
(b) Virgina Ann, Nov. I I, 1919, Veedersburg, Ind. Married Dec. 30,
1941, George Henry Simmins. No issue.
(c) Samuel William, Sept. 23, 1922 (Parke Co., Ind.) Married Sept.
26, 1945, Nina Jean Shoot, Crawfordsville, Ind. Samuel Ray
Young, born Nov. 27, 1946. Patricia Ann Young, born Dec. 12,
1947.
(d) John Bryant, born Feb. 25, 1929, Crawfordsville, Ind. Married
July 29, 1949, Doris Zachary: Michael Sanford born July 25,
1952; Katherine Ann, born Nov. I, 1953, Crawfordsville, Ind.
(2) Rose Schuyler Gallagher, born June 30, 1896, Parke Co., Ind.,
Married William Leisure: Richard, born 1926, Indianapolis, Ind., and
Robert, born 1927, Indianapolis (4 children; Richard, 3 children).
Rose married, 2nd, Vernon P. Stewart.
(3) Susan Emily, born Dec. 17, 1897, Tin Cup, Colo., Married C. J.
Toner. 5 children, all married, except youngest; also 5 grandchildren.
(4) Annie Hope, born April 4, 1899, Tin Cup, Colo., never married.
(5) Mary Gertrude, born Tin Cup, Colo., Married B. M. Knots. No issue.
(6) Samuel John, born Tin Cup, Colo., Married Frances Pugsley; two
children: Michael John Gallagher, born Aug. 7, 1942, Calif.; Kather¬
ine Ann Gallagher, born Nov. 7, 1945, Calif.
(7) Charles Cortenius, July 3, 1906, Tin Cup, Colo. Married, Indian¬
apolis, Elen Hadley: son, Charles C. Jr., married and has daughter,
she and Chas. Sr., reside Clermont, Ind.; Sam lives in Pasadena,
Calif.; Rose, Danville, III., rest, Indianapolis, Ind."
Mrs. Katherine Young writes further:
1 1
in their Bible until her death; then her son, Schuyler, added more, as did
126
his son, Fred La Tourette, who now owns it. . . . Her father was born Mar.
14, I 777, died July I , I 809, and baptised May 4, 1777, Freehold Middle-
town, N. J. He married Nellie Covenhaven, 1797, and, he (Garret K.
Schenck) and son, Cortenius, are buried in Presbyterian Cemetery, Bound
Brook, N. J. I have a photostatic copy of the Bible which belonged to
Willi am C. Conover and his wife, Eydia Schenck Conover, and now
owned by a descendant, Col. Walter S. Welsh. The Bible was given to
their oldest child, Ann, who married a Sheperd, and continued her line
w hich I will not copy."
Mrs. Katherine Young also furnished a "Memorial" which she wrote
showing the death of Mrs. Mary Jane Hansford Hibbs,
"age 89 years, of near Kingman, Fulton Twp., Fountain Co., Ind., died
Sunday evening, May 20, 1951".
The above record shows that she was a daughter of Mary, the eighth child
of John and Sarah (Schenck) La Tourette, of Covington, who married
William Sheldon Hansford. Much interesting data is given of pioneering
in Californa, where they lived for a time on the site of the present Capitol
building, terrible experience with cholera when crossing the plains, flood at
Sacramento, Col. Robert Hansford being a ranger in Texas and a steam¬
boat captain on Sacramento and Feather Rivers. The writer's father mined
along Feather River in '49, when he received word of his brother John's
death by cholera when attempting to cross the plains. And the brick
house that his Uncle John and Sarah Schenck built, is where the writer's
father v/as given the cold water treatment for fever and ague in I 848 when
he was about to start for the Oregon Country. Mary Jane's mother was
then I 8 years old; her father and mother were very prosperous and highly
respected farmers in the community, as also were two or more of her
uncles. (See "Fountain County, Inda., 1881, by H. W. Beckwith," and
"Vigo and Pike Counties" by the same author). John and Sarah were
equally renowned for their efficiency in weaving coverlets and garment
material for both men and women in the Wabash Valley. Some of their
children also became good weavers, espcially their daughter Sarah, who
married a Van Cickle. Their son, John, gave one of the spinning wheels
which he inherited to the Masonic Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was
known as a "Gilman Wheel".
Sarah Schenck lived for 30 years after John's death, and continued
her weaving. Her parents were from Holland (her mother a Copenhoven
(name changed, in America, to Conover). She or her daughter, Sarah, is
undoubtedly the Sarah of whom Charity Dye wrote in her book of "Torch
127
Bearers in Indiana". (See Chapter XVII, near the end). Her folks, as well as
John's came from New Jersey. They came to Indiana about 1824, and
pioneered for many years in a log cabin. They were "torch bearers in Indi¬
ana".
Their first son, Garrett, was the grandfather of Mrs. J. E. (Adell)
Rose, through his daughter, Sarah. Dr. J. E. Rose was a dentist who taught
in Portland. The writer became acquainted with them when they lived here,
1920-1930. She was a daughter of Sarah La Tourette who married John
E. Heath, and was a grand-daughter of Garrett.
The books above referred to show that John, before his marriage to
Sarah Schenck, served in the War of 1812, in the New York Militia, under
Capt. Trubridge. His son, Henry, followed weaving, and farming, though
he spent three years in the California mines, and two years (1872-1874)
as County Treasurer. John and Sarah's son, Schuyler, was in the War of
the Rebellion, (Co. H, 63d Ind. Vol. Inf.) beginning as a private, promoted
as Capt., and fought at Kenesaw Mountain, and many other engagements.
Their sister Susan's husband, John L. Clickener, was a very successful far¬
mer; his father was in the War of 1812, fought at Lundy s Lane, and other
engagements, and grandfather was a hero of the Revolutionary War,
taking part in the Battle of Yorktown, where he lost a leg.
Mrs. Katherine Young further writes that she gives the complete
family history of Fred La Tourette" as follows:
"(10) Schuyler and Kate Cooper La Tourette:
(I) Fred La Tourette, born March 23, 1884, Fountain Co., Ind.,
married Mabel Cossey, Sept. 28, 191 I, 4 children (one died in infancy).
A. Lawrence, born Nov. 5, 1912, married Sept. 23, 1938, Elinor
Mannahan:
David, born July 2, 1940,
Martha Ellen, Jan. 2, 1948,
Jeanne Ann, Nov. I 1 , 1950.
B. Oliver, (died in infancy).
C. Myma, born July 23, 1918, Married July 7, 1944, Henry Green,
5 children:
Diana Hope, born Mar. 3, 1946, Indianapolis, Ind.
Barbara Jane, born Sept. 15, 1947, Pa.
Jeffrey, born Dec. 9, 1948, Pa.
Caroline Elizabeth, born Oct. 20, 1950, Pa.*
Charles Frederick, born May 21, 1952, Pa.
128
D. Jean, born Dec. 4, 1920, married Sept. 8, 1946, Evelyn Picketts
in Vermillion Co., Ind., one son,
Gregg La Tourette, born Aug. 7, 1947.
Note: Fred La Tourette owns the LaTourette homestead, but they
live on Mrs. La T. farm near Pennysville, Vermillion Co., Ind., as it is a large
and better farm; his son, Jean, also lives on same farm and does most of
farming."
She also gives, as follows, the family of Rose Gallagher Leisure:
"Rose Gallagher married William Leisure, in Indianapolis, Dec. 23,
1921. (She married, 2nd, Vernon Stuart, at Danville, III., July 22, 1950).
Children:
(A) Paul Richard Leisure, born May 5, 1925, at Indianapolis, Ind.,
married there, Ruth Jordon (born Dec. 27, 1929) They moved
to Calif. 1 952. Children:
(1) Mayory Catherine Leisure, born Indianapolis, Ind., Oct.
14, 1948.
(2) Martha Rose Leisure, born Indianapolis, Ind., March 3, 1951
(3) Paul Richard Leisure, born Calif., June 15, 1953.
(B) Robert William Leisure, born Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 25, 1926,
married in Calif., Phyllis Ann Monson (born Jan. 2, 1928)
Children:
(1) John Edward Leisure, born Pasadena, Calif., Dec. 14, 1948,
(2) David Terry Leisure, born Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 5, 1949,
(3) Robbie Ann Leisure, born Pasadena, Calif., June 24, 1951.
(4) Julie Catherine Leisure born Pasadena, Calif. May 24, 1954
(3) Susan Emily Gallagher, married (in Indianapolis) Clarence
John Tower, on July 3, 1926. Children:
(A) Samuel David Tower, born Indianapolis, I nd., Aug. 1 3, 1927,
married in Clinton, Iowa, June 2, 1951, Phyllis Evans, Children:
(1) Frances Clair Tower, born Aug. 3, 1952,
(2) Barbara Jean Tower, born Oct. 2, 1953.
(B) Mary Louise Tower, born Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 24, 1928,
Married Paul Bateman, Indianapolis, Ind., Aug. 30, 1951.
(C) Katherine Jeannene Tower, born Indianapolis, Ind., Aug. 28,
1930, married Robert C. Allen, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 16,
1 950, children:
(1) Thresa Joan Allen, born Indianapolis, Ind., July 21, 1951,
(2) Paul Kenneth Allen, born Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 13, 1953.
(D) Suzanne Tower, born Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 14, 1934, married
129
George E. Hemmelgam, Indianapolis, I nd Feb. 2, 1953,
(I) Karen Ann Hemmelgam, born Indianapolis, I nd.,
(E) Charles Joseph Tower, born Indianapolis, I nd . , April 15, 1937.
(Will omit Sam's family).
(4) Charles Cortenius Gallagher, born Tin Cup, Colo., July 3, 1906,
married Elen Hadley, Indianapolis, I nd., I son,
married, 2nd, Elsie Butler (no issue by her)
Charles Cortenius Gallagher, Jr., born Indianapolis, I nd., Nov.
24, 1932, married in Calif.; daughter, Carolyn Loraine, born
Calif., Dec. 25, 1953."
Cousin Katherine Young gives further information about the weaving
activities of her great-grand parents to the effect that their children
assisted in the work, the mother doing the spinning and dyeing, and one
daughter especially (Sarah, who later in life married Mr. VanCickle) be¬
came so efficient that she was the one that Charity Dye wrote of, as pre¬
viously mentioned in these Annals, and that a book Hand Woven Cover¬
lets" was written by Eliza Calvert Hall, giving prominence to Sarah's
work, although Sarah was displeased about some parts of the book, feeling
that Mrs. Hall had been given misinformation. Cousin Katherine further
writes that the Indianapolis paper at different times had articles about
the La Tourette weaving.
The writer has several samples of hand weaving by his grand-father,
David of Lodi, with whom his brother, John, later of Covington, I nd.,
worked at Lodi, at and before his marriage. David's niece, Josephine,
received one of the coverlets which had decorations as previously stated.
(See Chapter XVII.) Her father's family and his uncle John's family, no
doubt, kept in touch with each other, and sometimes visited. In all proba¬
bility, Josephine, when a girl of about sixteen, after her father s death
from cholera in 1850 while crossing the plains, intending to reach the
California mines, visited the family of her father s Uncle John, in Coving¬
ton, before she started with her aunt, Louisa Swick, to Oregon. Josephine,
probably, received the coverlet which she highly prized, and gave it to
her son, Fred Buchtel, in Portland. The year 1833 may have been the year
in which it was made, but more likely it, together with the eagles and
words "Liberty" were intended to commemorate the strenuous times
in American history during the administration of President Andrew Jack-
son when nullification, states' rights, national banking, and many less ser¬
ious problems were pre-eminent. The writer has coverlet samples which his
130
Aunt Mehama had, and which were made by her father, David of Lodi.
They are decorated, one with eagles, one with "Hannah" (his wife's name),
and one with "Hannah" at the top, "Kelly" (the sir-name of Aunt Betsy
(Elizabeth's husband), "Tyrone'which is the name of the district in Mich¬
igan where the Kelly's lived and near Fentonville, where the writer's Uncle
David lived, "1834" which commemorates the strenuous period above
mentioned, and, at the bottom "H" in the left corner, and "L" in the right
corner.
CONCLUDING STATEMENT
The Latourettes in America have well followed the example of their
progenitors, Jean and Marie (Mercereau) LaTourette, belief in Christian
living, good citizenship, treating others as they would be treated, avoid¬
ing wrong, following good works, industrious, bearing their own burdens,
and helping others as able. Few, if any, have been known to commit a
crime, or to become a drunkard.
They have stood for good government, freedom of thought and of
worship. Some of them have participated in every war that has confronted
the United States, including the wars for freedon from foreign oppression.
They have been especially influential in helping to carry the Stars
and Stripes across the continent, from ocean to ocean. In doing so they
have struggled against wild animals and warlike Indians. New Jersey was
a new country when they moved from Staten Island. Western New York
was new country when they moved from New Jersey. Michigan was wild
and new when they moved there. The same has been true of Indiana and
Oregon. Many have died because of the hardships encountered. Others
have become stronger from the hardships. They have pioneered, been
"torch bearers" in the wilds of the West where prosperous states now
exist.
In warfare they have fought to win, and they have had a share in win¬
ning all wars except that in Korea which has not been won in conseguence
of the restraints which prevented pursuit of the enemy when in flight.
Many of the descendants of Jean and Marie have not achieved emi¬
nence, yet some have done so as the result of faithful and intelligent
service.
Personal health has been one of the objectives of the descendants,
and they have been rewarded in most cases with long and useful lives.
Most, if not all, of the descendants will have a pride in knowing more
about their ancestors and emulating their example.
132
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